


what does home look like? (I've only seen shadows of it in my dreams)

by sarcastic_fina



Series: what does home look like? [1]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Abandonment, F/M, Family, Father-Daughter Relationship, Female Friendship, Gen, Sister-Sister Relationship, papa!lance feels, step-daddy quentin
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-02-15
Updated: 2014-05-02
Packaged: 2018-01-12 12:05:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 26,623
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1186021
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sarcastic_fina/pseuds/sarcastic_fina
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>(au) For most of her life, Felicity Smoak grew up with her father in Coast City, only visiting her mother Dinah and the Lance family in the summers. But when her father drops her off for an unexpected visit and doesn't come back, Felicity is forced to figure out what 'family' really means. And, in the meantime, falling in love with the local billionaire can't hurt, right?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [RosieTwiggs](https://archiveofourown.org/users/RosieTwiggs/gifts).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **prompt** : ooh ooh felicity as lance's step-daughter, growing up with laurel and sara, in love with oliver! - **anonymous**
> 
>  **[beautiful fic poster](http://dhfreak.tumblr.com/post/87671064528/what-does-home-look-like-ive-only-seen-shadows)** made by [dhfreak](http://dhfreak.tumblr.com)
> 
>  **polyvore** :  
> (1) [Felicity's outfit when she arrives in Starling](http://www.polyvore.com/cgi/set?id=113943116)  
> (2) [Felicity's outfit when she first meets Oliver](http://www.polyvore.com/felicity_lance_1b/set?id=114103665)

[ ](http://dhfreak.tumblr.com/post/87671064528/what-does-home-look-like-ive-only-seen-shadows)

**I**.

It was only supposed to be a short visit.

"It'll be good for you, hey, pumpkin. Get to see your sisters…" her father told her as he dropped her off in front of the building her mother lived in with her pictue-perfect family.

Felicity had a hastily packed pink duffle bag at her feet, her mother's phone number and address scrawled on a folded over envelope, and a ball of anxiety chewing up her belly.

"Do they know I'm coming?" she worried, shifting her feet, her black and white polka-dot sneakers rubbing together.

She'd met her sisters before,  _obviously_. Every summer she came down to visit them; a different apartment then. And she talked to her mother every other night on the phone; conversations she deeply cherished. See, this wasn't one of those awkward moments where she just showed up on the doorstep of the mother that abandoned her. No, Dinah Lance made sure to always be a part of her daughter's life.

It was a unanimous decision when Felicity was four that she would live with her dad. Her parents had been a short-lived relationship, all of three (apparently passionate) months that resulted in an unexpected pregnancy. Eight months after they split, Felicity popped out. While still pregnant, Dinah had met Officer Quentin Lance and he'd taken a shine to her, baby on the way or not. They had a whirlwind romance that was nothing like what Dinah had with Felicity's dad.

Dinah and Quentin had a daughter, Laurel, when Felicity was just a year and half old. Felicity didn't remember it, but her mom told her that she and Laurel were inseparable when they were babies. She said they cried when they were separated and Laurel's first word was 'Flis' which everyone took to mean 'Felicity.' When Felicity was two though, having two kids was hard on Dinah, who was balancing work on top of everything, and Tony Smoak, Felicity's biological dad, wanted more time with her. So, he petitioned for custody, which turned into shared, and, finally, after two years and another baby, Dinah allowed Felicity to live with Tony.

When she was five, Felicity's dad decided Starling City wasn't where he wanted to be and he found a good job over in Coast City. While he and Dinah had argued about it, a lot, the decision was made. Dinah's daughter, Sara, was two years old and demanding a lot of attention, which was already split between four year old Laurel, so taking on Felicity on top of it seemed impossible at the time.

Felicity didn't question that her mother loved her, it never crossed her mind, and she liked living with her dad. He was a good guy; funny in that charismatic kind of way. He could charm a whole room with little more than a grin, and often did when it suited him. He never quite understood her fascination with building things, taking them apart only to put them back together, but he let her; from the toaster to the television, he never stopped her. "My little genius," he called her, boasting to anybody that would listen that she was going to be some big shot inventor one day.

She was seventeen when he apparently got tired of playing dad.

There were signs, she was sure, but she never really saw them. As much as they lived together, they had their separate lives. Tony liked to gamble and he'd gone through more jobs than Felicity liked to think about. That charming smile of his got him out of a lot of tough situations, but it wasn't much help against bookies. For that, he used her; he taught her how to count cards when she was eight and she got pretty good at it. She even helped him run a few scams, just enough to make sure the bills got paid.

She never told her mom about that. She couldn't, not knowing that Quentin was a police officer.

She didn't know how much her dad owed, but she imagined it had to be a lot. He was always betting bigger each time and if he was already in the hole… Well, she imagined the broken hand and sunglasses he was sporting when he drove them to Starling City was warning enough.

She thought he'd come back, though.

She didn't really think he'd actually leave.

"One week, kid. I promise," he told her.

She thought he'd find a way to make the money, pay off his debt, pick her up, and they'd go about their lives as usual. It wasn't perfect. Some days it really sucked. But, he was her dad, and that's what she'd grown up with. It was familiar.

Standing in front of her mother's apartment door, she felt awkward and scared and completely out of her depth.

But she knocked, maybe louder than she really meant to.

When the door swung open, she was still going over a mental pep-talk, interspersed with how she wanted to explain the situation.

"Lissy?" Sara asked, her eyes wide. "Is that you? Oh my God, you're  _blonde!_ "

Felicity half-smiled. "Yeah, well, now we match…"

Sara grinned. "I haven't seen you in months. Don't I get a hug?"

Felicity dropped her duffle bag on the floor and held her arms out.

Sara gave the best hugs. Those tight, squeeze you 'til you can't breathe type. She was always the happy one; all bright smiles and flushed cheeks. She was the baby of the family, of course, only fourteen and so, so eager to grow up. She'd sprouted up a few inches since last summer and was out of the gangly pre-teen stage long before Felicity had been. She'd be a heartbreaker, Felicity just knew it. She probably already had boys panting after her, eager for any scrap of her attention. And good for her, too. Sara was a sweetheart; she always had been. Every summer, she latched onto Felicity, taking her hand and pulling her along behind her, introducing her to anyone who would listen as her big sister Lissy. Felicity hated that nickname, she never let anybody else use it; nobody but Sara, who she just couldn't tell to stop. It felt nice, she had to admit. Despite how awkward she always felt around the Lances, she appreciated how easily Sara always adapted to her.

Sara gave Felicity a little shake and then stepped back, grinning up at her like she was an early birthday present. "How long do we get to keep you?"

"A week." Felicity shrugged a shoulder high. "Dad said he'd pick me up when he was done. Sudden business trip, you know how it is."

"Awesome! This is  _perfect_  timing!" She grabbed her arm and gave her a yank, only pausing when Felicity had to grab her bag. "Come on, mom's in the den. She'll be so excited to see you!"

Felicity readjusted her glasses, leaving her duffel bag on the couch as she dutifully followed Sara through the living room and into the den, looking around curiously as they went. The last apartment the Lances had been in was smaller, but it looked like Laurel's complaints that she needed her own bedroom had finally been considered. This new apartment was, well,  _huge_ to put it lightly. Felicity wasn't unaware that her mother was comfortably wealthy. In fact, she'd benefited from that each summer, and she knew she could always ask her mother for help when money was tight or she needed to pay school fees or buy new clothes or books. But it was a bit daunting to look at the beautiful, tastefully decorated apartment that the Lance family lived in when her trailer at home barely fit her and her dad.

Stepping into the den, she was briefly distracted by the tall columns of overflowing bookcases. Her fingers twitched, eager to run the spines and find a new title. She directed her attention to the center, where her mother was sitting busy at a desk, her reading glasses slung low on her nose as she looked over some papers.

"Hey, look who the cat dragged in," Sara announced.

Dinah lifted her head briefly, a finger raised as if to ask for another minute to finish what she was doing, but then paused. "Felicity?" Her eyes widened and a smile spread over her lips. Tossing her glasses to her desk, she stood and hurried toward her, arms outstretched for a hug. "Honey, what are you doing here?"

Felicity took a moment, face buried in her mother's shoulder, and just breathed in the familiar scent of Dinah's perfume. Tears bit at her eyes. She'd be lying if she said she didn't miss her mother the other 9 months of the year. She did. There were days when she called her twice just to hear her voice and remind herself that she had a mom who loved her. Dinah was a busy woman, and she had a completely different family that looked like it was built on love and perfection. Felicity never quite felt like she fit in it, but that didn't stop her from trying.

"Dad dropped me off. Business thing. He was hoping I could stay. Just for a week…"

"Of course." Dinah stepped back, her hands raising to cup Felicity's cheeks. "I just wish your father would learn to call ahead so we could've prepared. The guest room's a mess…" She kissed Felicity's forehead and then shook her head. "It doesn't matter. You're here now, so we'll figure it out." Hugging an arm around her shoulders and then the other around Sara's, she led them back into the apartment. "Let's surprise Quentin at the precinct, let him know he's taking us girls out to celebrate."

Halfway through the apartment, she called out, "Laurel…? Come on. Felicity's visiting. We're going downtown to see your father."

"What?" A door swung open and a confused Laurel appeared, looking just as beautiful as she always did.

Felicity would be lying if she said she wasn't occasionally jealous of her sister and how she seemed to steal all the good genes for herself. Where Felicity was like the odd but unique panda purse she was wearing, Laurel was the cool, collected young woman she could only wish to be. Jealousy aside, however, she loved her sister and she was proud of how smart and hard-working she was. Laurel wasn't just a pretty face, she had the brains and confidence to back it up. Unfortunately, despite only being a year and a half apart, Felicity always kind of felt like they came from completely different worlds, and so it was hard to relate to her most of the time.

"What do you mean Felicity's… here." She paused, looking at her older sister. "Oh. Hey..." She half-smiled before casting an accusing look at Sara. "Nobody told me you were coming."

"I didn't know until this morning. It was all kind of last minute." Felicity shrugged. "Nobody to blame but Tony."

"Get your jacket. We're going to see your dad," Dinah said. "We're taking Felicity out for dinner to welcome her back."

"Oh, well, I kind of have a lot of homework…" Laurel shifted her feet. "But yeah, sure, that'd be nice." She smiled before making her way back into her room, gathering up a coat and her purse.

When she crossed the room to walk with them, Felicity felt the need to duck out from under Dinah's arm so it'd be free for Laurel, but her sister only moved to walk ahead of them. "Are we warning dad or just showing up?"

Dinah grinned. "What do you think?"

* * *

Quentin Lance was a good guy. Felicity was never really sure what to call him, so she always ended up with the overly polite 'Officer Lance' or 'sir.'

He sighed whenever she did it, but she couldn't break the habit.

"Look at you. You get taller since I saw you last summer?" he asked, sitting on the edge of his desk, a #1 Dad mug sitting at his hip. "You definitely got blonder…" He reached over to give a curl a tug and she smiled.

She waved her hands around. "Not taller. If anything, I probably shrunk… I don't think that's supposed to happen until you're well into your twilight years, but maybe I'm a special case. I mean, I haven't actually measured, but there's a 'smaller than I used to be' feeling, you know? Or not, I mean you look just as tall as ever."

He grinned, shaking his head. "I'm glad you're here, kid." He leaned over and said in a mock-whisper, "I'm pretty sure one of the girls killed the coffee pot and I know how good you are at fixing those things."

" _He_ killed the coffee pot," Sara piped up, rolling her eyes. "Don't let him tell you any different."

"Liars, the whole lot of 'em. I'd have 'em brought into custody, but I think it'd look bad on me," he said, winking.

Felicity chuckled under her breath, ducking her head.

Quentin wasn't like her dad. He was… kinder. Oh, he could be gruff and impatient and he sighed more than any other human she knew. But there was something soft about him when it came to his family. Her mother said he was all soft in the center but liked to pretend he wasn't. Sometimes she wished she'd been the lucky daughter; the one that grew up with him as a father.

"I got a couple more hours of paperwork. Why don't you beautiful ladies spend some time catching up and when I'm done, we'll head out to dinner, all right?" He reached over to squeeze Felicity's arm. "Anywhere you want, sweetheart. It's your pick."

She nodded. "Sure. That'd be great."

Sara hopped out of the chair she'd been spinning in and made her way over. She hooked her arm through Felicity's and tugged her close. "I propose we catch up over shopping. I think Lissy needs some new  _everything_." She grinned, wiggling her eyebrows.

"Sure, if that's what you want," Dinah agreed, rubbing her hand over Felicity's back before she turned to kiss Quentin goodbye. "Shopping it is."

Felicity cast a look back at her step-father that was full of 'what am I getting myself into?' and he answered it with a shrug.

Unlike her sisters and mother, she was not as well-acquainted with fashion. Not that her best friend Kelsey thought that was in any way acceptable; in fact, if there was anyone who loved shopping more than her mother and sisters, it was Kelsey. Thankfully, however, when Kelsey was on a shopping spree, she could take comfort in Jennifer, her other best friend, who felt just as lackluster about shopping as she did. There was no Jenn to save her now, however, and there was no stopping the Lance women when they wanted to go shopping, so she resigned herself to it.

In a small corner of her brain, she could admit it felt nice to be pampered and to wear something that wasn't jeans and an oversized t-shirt. Not that she was ever getting rid of those, because they were comfortable and she needed that when she spent hours bent over a motherboard. But still, what could a nice dress or skirt hurt, right?

* * *

Apparently Sara wasn't kidding about the new 'everything' comment because Felicity was pretty sure they'd have to buy all new luggage before she went home. There was no way even half of what they bought would fit inside her duffel bag. She was pretty happy with it though. She could probably toss the worst of her jeans now that she had a couple new pairs, and the few skirts and dresses she bought were really cute. Her favorite though was the panda flats she found on sale. While Laurel wrinkled her nose at them, Felicity said they matched her purse, so it was obviously a sign from the cosmos. In any case, she was now the proud owner of panda flats, so the three hours they spent shopping were totally worth it.

She probably could have done without the make-shift fashion show, though.

"Come on…" Sara whined. "Bring out the goods!"

Felicity rolled her eyes in the mirror, but smoothed down the blue sundress she was wearing with little turquoise and pink flowers on it. She stepped out of the dressing room to find her sister sitting on a cushion with a pink boa around her neck and a pair of oversized glasses perched on her nose. Whistling, Sara tipped the glasses down and looked her over. "Check you out…" She nudged Laurel beside her. "Is it just me, or did Felicity get the good legs?"

Dinah smiled widely. "You're getting that one." She stood and walked to her, taking her hands and holding her arms out to get a better look. "Do a twirl!"

Felicity flushed, but she listened and spun for her mother and sisters, reaching up to tuck her hair behind her ear. "Is it all right?" she wondered, scrunching up her nose.

"It's really cute," Laurel told her, nodding. "Mom's right, you should get it."

"It's done. That's going on the top of the pile," Dinah declared before turning on her heel and walking back toward a rack of clothes. "I had the sales girl grab a few things…" She fingered a few dresses. "Come on then, I want to see all of them on you."

Felicity's head fell back. "There's like twenty outfits on that rack..."

Dinah grinned. "Twenty-three. And I want you to cat-walk out here. Sara's not wrong. You've got my legs." She winked at her before moving to take a seat by her two daughters.

"Chop chop," Sara exclaimed happily. "I want something yellow next!"

Felicity rolled her eyes, but when she stopped at the rack, she specifically picked out a canary yellow dress she thought Sara would appreciate before ducking into the dressing room.

Much as she wasn't a fan of showing off, she was having fun. So maybe it wasn't the worst thing shopping with them.

* * *

After the first day, it was pretty easy. Everybody already had their routines. Sara and Laurel both had school to go to while Felicity was content that she'd already worked ahead and could take the week off. When her mother wasn't working, Dinah made sure to spend as much time with Felicity as she could. She couldn't quite explain what it felt like to have her mother like that. Easy access to Dinah was rare for her. Except for the summers, birthdays, and the holidays, she didn't get to see her. Oh, Dinah was a comforting voice on the phone and she doled out advice with the best of them, but there was nothing quite like sitting down with her mother and having her in reach while they talked.

"Tell me about home," Dinah encouraged as she spread cream cheese on her bagel, seated at the kitchen table with her hair pulled up in a ponytail. Sometimes it struck her funny how her mother could always look so put together to other people, so in control, and then Felicity got to see her with bed-head and schmear on her chin.

"Home is… home." She shrugged, looking down at her bowl of Cheerios. "I don't know… School's going well and I've already started filling out college applications. I mean, I know I don't graduate until next year and I've got my heart set on MIT, but I should probably have options, and the sooner I start the better."

She nodded. "I never worry about you when it comes to school, Felicity. You were always the smartest in the class. In pre-school, do you remember, you used to teach the other kids the alphabet and how to count…" She smiled widely. "Oh, Quentin used to talk about you to anybody who would listen. You've always been bright." She reached over to rub Felicity's arm affectionately. "But I want to know what's going on at home. How's your father been? Does he go away like this a lot or is this new?"

Felicity's first instinct was to cover for Tony. She'd been doing it for so long that it just came naturally. There were things she wasn't allowed to tell her mom – like the card counting and the debt and all the time he spent betting on horses – and it bothered her. It really did. Felicity was an honest person, she was. So, talking to her mom as often as she did and not telling her what Tony was doing, that was hard for her. She usually babbled and covered it up and changed the subject, but she suspected Dinah knew she was hiding something.

"I wouldn't say ' _a lot_ ,'" she hedged. "I mean, he does work and sometimes it's not always in town. But it's not usually for a whole week…" She shrugged. "He'll figure it out, he always does. And then I'll be back home, at least until this summer."

Dinah's lips pursed. "You know you can always come here, don't you?" She stared at her searchingly. "I know it's always just made sense with you in school and other obligations, but… this is your home, too. We're your family, too, Felicity."

She smiled then, but it was a little forced, because was it? Were they?

Felicity's family had always been her dad. She picked up the empty beer bottles in the morning, left some Advil on the table beside him, dropped a paper with circled job ads within reach, and then rode her bike to school. She told bookies she didn't know where he was, counted cards and helped him run a few casino scams to scrape by at least once a month. She made sandwiches with questionable bologna and did odd jobs to pick up groceries from time to time. Family had always been a down-on-his-luck man who called her pumpkin and promised her he'd pay her back as soon as he caught his next break.

In the summer, she could almost pretend she was someone else. She could almost pretend she  _was_ a Lance and that the people around her were who she'd always grown up with. Sometimes, when she was feeling particularly down, she'd lay in her bed at home and imagine what it would've been like if she hadn't gone to live with Tony. Would she be closer to Laurel? Would she call Quentin dad? Would she be the awkward, verbally unfiltered girl she was now, or something more refined?

But those were pipe dreams. Her family was driving a beat-up car, searching for an opportunity to make some quick cash, and her home was a small trailer in Coast City, overlooking nothing but an empty lot they kept promising they would build on next year.

Still, it was nice to pretend sometimes that her reality was, or could be, something better.

"I know, mom," she said, taking and squeezing Dinah's hand.

"Hey, why don't we go and see a movie today?" Dinah suggested, looking excited. "They've got a sci-fi marathon on downtown. I know how much you love movies like that!"

She smiled then, genuinely. "Yeah, I'd really like that."

"Wonderful." Dinah gave her hand a little shake and then picked up her bagel. "Just you and me. We'll stop and get lunch somewhere, too. Ooh, maybe we'll stop in somewhere and get our hair done. We'll make a whole day of it!"

As her mother went on about all the things they could do, Felicity nodded along, a spot in her chest warming at Dinah's enthusiasm. It was always short-lived, these moments and visits, but she never forgot one second of them. One day, she was going to go to MIT and she'd begin a life of her own. She wondered if she'd find her way back here. Maybe her and her mother could meet up every weekend and see a movie or go shopping or just sit and talk.

As quickly as that dream-life began to flesh out, she stopped it. The opportunity would come one day for her to change her life, but as much as she dreamed of leaving for MIT and finding that freedom she'd always wanted, there was another part of her that knew she would wind up back in Coast City, picking up after her dad, paying his bills when he couldn't, lying to bookies to keep them off his back. And when her mother asked her what home was like, she would lie and say it was going well, it was everything she wanted, and she'd promise to come up and see her as soon as she had some free time.

"Why don't you look up what time each movie is playing and we'll plan our day around it, hm?" Dinah told her, patting her hand.

"Sure," she said, standing from her seat. She dug out the newspaper Quentin always left folded up by the coffee machine and searched through the entertainment section.

When this ended, and, of course, it would, she hoped she wouldn't be too heartbroken.

* * *

Felicity's favorite parts were when they were all together. Family dinners at an actual dining room table, hearing about their days, being asked about her own, her mother's laughter, so free and open…

"Pass the wine, darling," her mother said to her, motioning with her hand. "Quentin, tell them that story about the burglar last week."

"We had three B&E's last week, Dee, you're gonna have to be more specific," he answered with a grin, cutting off a slice of his steak. It was bleeding enough that Dinah was quick to call him a barbarian; a running joke of theirs, said over affectionate smiles.

She waved dismissively. "You know the one, without his pants."

Felicity poured the wine into her mother's glass before putting it back onto the table.

"Thank you, baby," Dinah murmured, squeezing her forearm before she returned her attention to her husband. "I've never laughed so hard. Tell the girls."

"All right, all right…" He leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table, still holding his fork and knife. "It was a regular night, we had a few calls, nothing special… Then we get this one call, right?" He rattled off a few numbers in that way that police officers did, like they expected everybody knew what they meant. "So we got this B&E down on Sixth. Not surprising, they get hit a lot. The security over there is terrible, but anyway… We go upstairs, three flights, 'cause the elevator's out, and we knock on the door. We're thinking we're gonna have a victim, right? Somebody pissed —pardon my language— they got a ransacked apartment, the usual. But no, this lady… she's gotta be in her mid-fifties, she swings open the door, right? And she's got a bat in one hand that she's pointing back at this half-naked man tied up on her floor. She starts yelling!" He waved his hands around, cutlery glinting in the light. "She's screaming at us that this guy broke in through the window of her fire escape, wearin' nothing but his underwear, and tried to take her TV with him."

At this point, they were all laughing, picturing the scene he was painting.

Quentin chuckled a few times himself. "So we had to go in, right? Had to talk this lady down, get the bat out of her hands, and untie this guy, read him his rights, handcuff him. But he's so upset, 'cause he's half naked or caught, I don't know, but he starts pissin' himself right there on the floor. I've never seen someone get so mad. That woman grabbed the bat out of my hand and just started  _swingin'_! She was threatening to toss him out the window he came through. It was nuts!" He shook his head. "Anyway, long story short. We took him in, sprayed him down, and when we asked him why, he said he lived a floor below her and she was always listening to her TV too loudly. He got the crazy idea that if he just went in, took the TV, and got out, problem solved."

"Why no pants though?" Felicity wondered.

He shook his head. "Your guess is as good as mine."

Felicity smiled, stabbing at a bite of salad with her fork.

Sara piped up then. "Ooh, dad, tell Lissy about the streaker last year!"

"What is it with you guys and naked people, huh?" he asked, but he sat back in his seat and started to regale her with that story too.

Felicity's cheek hurts from smiling so much.

She almost felt like part of the family.

* * *

One week became two, and fast.

She tried calling her dad, but he never picked up, until one day they said the number she was calling was out of service. She didn't understand. He'd had the same phone, the same number since she was twelve. She tried calling her house, but there was no answer, and when she called her nana it was the same.

"It'll be okay," Dinah promised, hugging an arm around her as they sat on the couch together in the living room. "Hey, this just means you get to spend more time with us, right?" She rubbed her arm gently. "Let's not look a gift-horse in the mouth."

Felicity nodded, resting her head on her mother's shoulder.

But it wasn't a gift. Not really.

Late that night, still wide awake and worried, she could hear her mother and Quentin talking in the living room.

"He abandoned her, D. He's not coming back. I see this shit all the time. That… That jerk-off dropped her here knowing he wasn't coming back…"

"We don't know that. Tony does rash things sometimes. Maybe he got caught up. I… I don't want to tell Felicity he won't come back. I don't want to hurt her if there's still a chance he'll come get her."

Quentin sighed. "I'm telling you, that deadbeat asshole walked out on her… He never deserved her to begin with."

"Quentin,  _please_ … We'll give it a few more days."

"Fine. But I'm putting out an APB for him. I'll ask around, reach out to a few buddies I have, see what they can dig up. And I'll get in contact with the Coast City PD, see what they know."

"All right. And thank you… I know this is difficult. We didn't plan for this."

"Hey… She's your daughter. She's  _family_. We might have to move a few things around, but she's not a problem, all right? Felicity, she's a good kid. I got no problem with her staying here. I told you that from the second Tony wanted to take her. I would've raised her as my own, you know that."

"I do, I know. It's just… It's hard. She's lived most of her life away from us."

"Well, it's about time she got used to living it  _with_  us then, in't it?"

Felicity didn't hear her mother's reply. She turned over onto her side and buried her face in her pillow and cried herself to sleep.

* * *

Felicity met Oliver Queen on a Wednesday.

In an effort to stop thinking about her recent abandonment, she was drowning her issues in coffee and free wi-fi. There was a quaint little coffee shop around the corner from her mother's apartment that she'd begun frequenting and she was happily doing just that, her laptop open in front of her, when an irritated voice beside her let out a string of curses that even her step-father, who was notorious for swearing, could be proud of.

Her head swiveled to see what the damage was, only to find the man sitting beside her had spilled a latte on his top-of-the-line laptop. He, of course, seemed more interested in the scalding coffee pouring into his lap, while she, ever the hero, grabbed up his laptop and tipped it in an effort to keep the liquid from settling between the keys. Napkins in hand, she dabbed at the keyboard carefully, trying to dry up what she could. Poor thing.

"Me or the computer?"

Glancing up at the boy a few feet from her, currently wiping coffee off the front of his jeans, she answered, "I said that out loud?"

His mouth twitched. "Yeah. Question still stands. Which one's the poor baby?"

She pointed at the computer before readjusting her glasses. "Although I feel bad for your lap, too. That couldn't've been pretty." She cringed. "That came out wrong. I mean, it could've come out worse, but it was bad enough."

He cocked his head, a grin playing at his lips. "Oliver Queen," he introduced himself, holding out a hand for her to shake.

"Felicity Smoak, or you could just call me the girl who is going to save your laptop, because that's exactly what I'd like to do now that you've drowned it."

He chuckled under his breath. "Felicity's less of a mouthful."

"I've always been considered more of a handful." She paused. "Pretend I didn't say that."

"I'd rather pretend you did," he laughed.

She looked up at him, a faint blush on her cheeks. Oh, he was handsome, tall with broad shoulders, chiseled features, and sandy blond hair falling into blue eyes. She cleared her throat to distract herself from her mental appreciation. "Is there anything on here that you don't want me to see?" she wondered, glancing down at the computer. "Because I'm probably going to have to take a look around to see what kind of damage you did."

"Accidentally."

She ignored that, reaching up to readjust her glasses. "So, if there's anything, especially of the porny variety, warn a girl now."

He laughed, his brows hiked in mild surprise. "I think you're safe." He shrugged. "Now, if we were talking about my  _home_  computer… that'd be something else."

She tried and failed to smother a smile before shaking her head. "Your honesty is refreshing."

"Your smile is infectious."

She let out a breathless laugh and then waved to the seat across from her. "Since you probably don't want to leave your computer with a complete stranger, why don't you try another latte while I take a look at this?"

Oliver rested his elbows on the table and leaned forward. "Or I could spend some time getting to know you…" He searched her eyes. "Twenty questions?"

She shook her head. "Do you always flirt with people after damaging extremely expensive laptops?"

"No, this is the first time I've damaged a laptop, extremely expensive or otherwise. I do flirt a lot though, especially with cute girls I meet in coffee shops. That was your first question. Nineteen to go."

Her mouth twitched.

"My turn. Do you live around here?"

She shouldn't encourage him. Really, she shouldn't. But, well…

"'Live' is a broad term," she answered. "I'm technically visiting, my mom and the step… _half…?_  family, to be simultaneously vague and specific. But no, home is in Coast City."

"Ah, so you're gonna break my heart by leaving in the end. Good to know."

A surprised laugh left her and she shook her head.

"Your go," he encouraged, grinning.

And so it went.

They covered friends (his best friend was a guy named Tommy; it seemed nobody else mattered as much. She told him about Kelsey and Jennifer, the free spirit and the pragmatist), family (he had a little sister, Thea, he liked to call her Speedy, and his parents, who sounded like they were pretty busy, almost too much. She told him about Tony, leaving the worst details out, but there wasn't much to say outside of 'addicted to gambling' and 'abandoned me two and a half weeks ago.' So, she added in her mother, telling him how she always smelled like lilacs, and her sisters; well, more Sara than Laurel, who had enacted a girl's night every Sunday that meant painting each other's nails and talking about boys), school (she was top of her class while he had a solid B average in everything but math), the future (she was MIT bound while he was just waiting on whatever Ivy League school his parents decided was good enough), and eventually, as things often broke down to, relationships.

"You're not seeing anyone."

"Was that a question?" she wondered, her eyes narrowed.

His mouth turned up on one side as he chuckled under his breath. "Maybe more of a hope. If you don't answer, I get to pretend you're single."

Felicity shook her head. "I'm not seeing anyone."

"Would you like to be?" He grinned then. " _That_ was a question."

On a Wednesday afternoon, with a sticky laptop in her hands, across from a boy she'd only just met, Felicity said yes to a date with a guy whose smile made her stomach twist up.

Maybe her dad ditching her wasn't the worst thing to happen to her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this was only supposed to be a oneshot, but then it just kept growing, so I've broken it up to easier read parts. I've had a lot of fun building up this universe, so I hope you guys enjoy this. We'll see more of Felicity bonding with the Lance-side of her family and learning what kind of dad Quentin is compared to her own. There's also a lot more Olicity in the second chapter, which is pretty much the cutest ever because lovesick and young Oliver is just adorable and fun.
> 
> Please leave a review! They're my lifeblood and keep me writing. Plus, I'm easily swayed to post earlier when people are eager to read the next part, lol. 
> 
> Thank so much for reading!
> 
> - **Lee | Fina**


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **polyvore** : 
> 
> (1) [Felicity's first date outfit](http://www.polyvore.com/cgi/set?id=113943317)  
> (2) [Felicity's "third" date outfit](http://www.polyvore.com/felicity_lance/set?id=114469371)  
> (3) [Felicity's reading date outfit](http://www.polyvore.com/felicity_lance/set?id=114469656)  
> (4) [Felicity's park/ice cream date outfit](http://www.polyvore.com/felicity_lance/set?id=114470711)  
> (5) [Felicity's outfit when she talks to Oliver about Tony](http://www.polyvore.com/cgi/set?id=114476238)

[ ](http://dhfreak.tumblr.com/post/87671064528/what-does-home-look-like-ive-only-seen-shadows)

**II.**

"What do you mean a  _date?_ " Quentin wondered grumpily, frowning as he sat on the couch, a beer balanced on one knee and the TV remote in his other hand. He'd muted it when she walked out in a dress that Sara had helped her pick out specifically for the occasion. It was white with a floral print that she was sure Kelsey would've gone off about for days. In fact, her best friend would probably go on about cut and fit and how the little brown belt in the middle made her figure pop, and  _blah blah blah_. All Felicity knew was that she felt pretty and Sara gave her a double thumbs-up. So, her outfit was a big fat go.

Fiddling with the cuff of her jean jacket while she sat on the arm of the couch, she said, "His name's Oliver. We met at a coffee shop a few days ago."

"And he asked you out on a date?" Quentin shook his head, his thick, dark brows hiked. "Isn't there some kind of protocol to that? Shouldn't he ask me first?"

Felicity smiled, glancing at a snorting Sara, who was sitting sideways on the armchair, her legs dangling over the arm.

With a lighthearted roll of her eyes, Felicity turned back to her step-dad. "He didn't  _propose_. We're just going out to a movie."

Quentin grumbled, mouth pinched up sourly. "Well, who is this guy? How do I know he's safe? He have a driver's licence? A record? How old is he?" He waved his hands around with his questions, as if the answers were somehow evading his desperate reaching.

"He's seventeen, he has his licence, and no, as far as I know, he doesn't have a record."

His brows shot up. "As far as you  _know…?_ "

"Dad," Sara laughed, grinning at him in her amusement. "Chill out. It's just a date. Lissy knows what she's doing."

"Yeah? You been on a lot of dates then?" he wondered, sitting forward and narrowing his eyes at Felicity. "'Cause Dinah didn't say anything about you going on dates. She know about this?"

"Yes, I told her." Felicity scoffed under her breath. "And I've been on a few dates with boys back home. I'm seventeen…"

"Hah! I don't care if you're  _thirty_. I wanna know where you're going and I want you to check in when you get there." He stabbed a finger down onto the palm of his hand. "You met some guy in a coffee shop, how do you know he is who he says he is, huh? He could be anyone. A serial killer for all we know!"

A buzzer went off then, letting them know someone was downstairs.

"That him?" Quentin shoved up from the couch. "Buzz him in. I wanna meet him."

"Dad," Sara groaned. "Don't embarrass her."

"I'm not embarrassing her," he argued. "I'm making sure this kid's not gonna take her off to some dark alley and chop her up into little bits, all right? That's my job. It's  _both_ my jobs, as a dad and a policeman. Now send him up!"

"That's… encouraging." Felicity sighed and reached over to press the button on the comm. "Hey, Oliver, do you mind coming up? My, uh, my step-dad wants to meet you. You know, to make sure you're not some insane serial killer that likes to charm girls with coffee and broken laptops before you ritualistically kill them…"

There was a pause and then,"Sounds like fun. I'll come right up."

Felicity bit her lip as she smiled and pushed the button to let him in.

She lingered by the door, half because she didn't want Quentin to swing it open and scare Oliver off and half because she didn't feel like hanging around to hear more of her step-dad's complaints that she shouldn't go out on this date.

When the knock came, she was relieved and pulled the door open quick. "Hey…" She shifted her feet, her nose wrinkling. "Sorry about this. He's just,  _well_ , a cop, so he's kind of protective."

Oliver shrugged. "No worries." He stepped over the threshold into the apartment and whistled as he looked around. "Nice temporary digs."

"Yeah, it's a lot better than my permanent house. My trailer back home isn't exactly something you boast about." She waved a hand for him to follow her and made her way toward the living room, pointing a thumb back at him as they stepped into the room. "This is Oliver. Oliver, this is my step-dad, Quentin Lance."

"Officer Lance," he corrected in a hard tone, stepping up to offer Oliver a brisk handshake. "Felicity tells me you two are going to a movie?"

"Uh, yeah." He nodded. " _The Ring_? It's playing downtown."

Quentin's eyes narrowed. "Yeah, one of them horror movies, right? So you can get your arm around her, hold her while she's scared. Not happening."

At this point, Sara was just laughing to herself.

"Why don't you go see that, uh, Two Towers, huh?" he suggested, crossing his arms over his chest. "Felicity loves the Lord of the Rings."

"It's a three hour movie. I hardly think Oliver wants to sit through that." Felicity frowned. "He might not've even seen the first one…"

"I haven't." He smiled at her. "But we could watch the first one at my place, tomorrow, then go see the second one if you want."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa…" Quentin waved his hands. "No way you two are having some unsupervised date at his house."

"Probably wouldn't be unsupervised. Raisa's always there." Oliver shrugged. "But we can watch it here, if you want."

Quentin glared at him and Felicity couldn't help but find it kind of amusing that every time he tried to put his foot down, Oliver didn't back down. In fact, he didn't seem the least bit cowed by Quentin's approach. She wasn't sure how wise that was, but it was fun to watch all the same.

"Felicity picked The Ring though, so it's really up to her what she wants to do…" Oliver looked over at her.

"We're going." She smiled and turned to her step-dad. "I'll call you when I get to the theater and when I'm leaving it, all right?" She gathered up her purse and pulled it over her shoulder. "I'll be fine. Oliver's clearly not a sociopath, and if he is, I have mace in my purse." She looked over at her date. "It stings, just forewarning."

"Noted," he said, half-smiling.

"Okay." She turned back to her step-dad. "I'll be home by eleven."

"No later," he told her, his mouth set in a frown, looking far more sullen than she'd ever seen him.

Felicity nodded, and then, for the first time since she was a little girl, she walked over and kissed his bristly cheek. "Promise."

With that, she walked away, hooking her arm through Oliver's and leading him out of the apartment. While it wasn't ideal, she had to admit, she kind of loved the concerned-dad act.

* * *

Felicity couldn't remember much of the movie. She did remember Oliver's hand finding hers while the trailers were still playing, and after that all she could focus on was the soft touch of his thumb moving back and forth over her skin.

That and the occasional, "You wanna licorice?" as he held one out or, "Popcorn?" when he waved the bag at her.

But after the movie, that was nice. They got frozen yogurt and sat outside the shop at a little table. There was a bit of a chill thanks to the breeze that made her regret having bare legs, but since his gaze kept dropping to where they were crossed, she thought the goosebumps might be worth it. Jenn always told her that her best asset was her legs. Then again, Kelsey always said her best asset was her ass. She was almost completely sure it was actually her brain, but she appreciated the compliments all the same.

Oliver knocked his frozen yogurt off a lot faster than she did, so it was no surprise when he kept trying to steal some of hers. She smacked his spoon away when he tried to scoop a few gummi bears from the top of her dessert, but he only laughed, trying again.

He walked her home, even though it would've been easier to take his car. They had some extra time to kill and apparently he didn't want to waste it. So, they walked through downtown Starling City with their hands tangled together, while she talked about everything under the sun. She wasn't really sure when he reached for her hand (or did she reach for his?), but she liked how it felt. His fingers fit between hers, his thumb rubbing circles. He had nice hands, much bigger than hers but oddly complimentary all the same.

As they walked, he asked her about home, about her friends and what she did for fun. Once she got talking about Kelsey and Jenn, there was really very little that could stop her. Best friends since third grade, she had enough stories to fill three books. And it helped that they were her favorite people.

She was mid-ramble about the time when Kelsey was caught in the boy's change room with the quarterback's head under her skirt when suddenly her lips weren't moving.

He tasted like strawberries. Which made sense since he'd had strawberry frozen yogurt, but that was the first thing that came to mind. The second was that his lips were warm and smooth and she liked how his hand fit behind her neck, fingers tangled in her hair. It wasn't her first kiss, not even close, but it was her best by far. His hand pressed to her cheek, fingertips tracing the curve, and his thumb slid down under her mouth as he pulled back, his forehead resting against hers.

She let out a shaky breath and said, "That was a lot better than Bobby Peters in eighth grade."

He laughed, a warm chuckle that made his chest vibrate against hers, and then he kissed her again.

He kept kissing her, making their progress in getting her home pretty slow, what with them tripping over each other's the whole way. He wrapped an arm around her waist, and she thought, to anybody else, it probably looked like they were dancing. Terribly, mind you, but dancing all the same. Spinning and moving together, step by step down the sidewalk, their lips only leaving each other to laugh as they stepped on each other's shoes or bumped into some stationary sign or fire hydrant.

It was nice and sweet and... It felt right. She wondered if this was what Jennifer was talking about when she said, "You know you're with the right person when laughing together feels as good as kissing."

She'd never laughed so much or so genuinely as she did with him.

* * *

When Felicity got home, she expected to see Quentin. Grumpy or worried or complaining about the three minutes she was late. Three minutes she'd spent with her back pressed against a street lamp as Oliver tried to convince her to have him over tomorrow to watch Fellowship of the Ring, even though they both knew Quentin would be there to chaperone. Three very awesome minutes of his mouth kissing down her chin to her neck and his fingers stroking through her hair. He convinced her.

After she closed the door, she walked inside the apartment with an extra little pep to her step. She felt light. Light enough to float away. Which was why she was sure Quentin's fatherly dress down would probably help to pop the dizzying bubble of  _Oliver_ with a fresh sense of reality. Only it wasn't him who was sitting on the couch waiting up, it was her mother.

Dinah was in the middle of knitting something, a pile of some misshapen project in her lap and a ball of wool beside her knee. She was terrible at knitting, but she just kept trying.

Looking up as Felicity walked in the room, Dinah smiled. "Oh, I know that face…" She patted the seat beside her. "Come on, tell me everything…"

Felicity let out a breathless laugh and crossed the room, tugging her jacket off as she went and letting it fall into the seat of the armchair before she sat down beside her mother. Her mouth opened to put it into words, but she found herself, for the first time in her life, speechless.

Dinah eyed her knowingly. "That good, huh?"

Felicity flushed, reaching a hand up to tuck her hair behind her ear, tugging on the lobe a little awkwardly. "He was… funny and sweet and…" She let out a groan and pressed her hands to her face as she fell back against the couch. "Have you ever met someone and it's like you don't even remember what they said or did, you just remember how you felt when you were with them?"

Her mother nodded, her expression softening.

"It was like that. I can't remember the movie but I remember how his hand felt holding mine. I can't remember exactly what we talked about, but I remember how he smiled at me when I rambled and how he laughed when I told him stories and how he said my name… It's like…" Her eyes narrowed as she shook her head. "I don't know. He just says my name a certain way."

Dinah reached for her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. "So? Is it love then?"

She scoffed. "We just met."

Humming, she shook her head. "I knew as soon as I met Quentin that he was the one."

"Yeah?" Felicity looked up at her, brow furrowed. "How?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. He just… He smiled at me and I felt it. I felt it right down into my bones like I'd never felt anything before. And as soon as it happened, it was so funny, but you kicked. You kicked me so hard I actually jumped and he… Oh, he was so worried. He thought he'd sent me into premature labour. It was hilarious. Poor man, he was beside himself." She laughed, shaking her head. "Anyway, he asked me out for coffee after that and,  _well_ , the rest is history."

Felicity nodded, resting her head on her mother's shoulder. "I don't know what it is with Oliver. I just know that I like him. I like how I feel when I'm with him."

"That's good." Dinah stroked her hair. "I want you to be happy and if he makes you happy then I'm glad… Of course, I could be biased. I'm hoping you'll fall madly in love with him and refuse to go home. You'll just stay here with us, forever and ever," she declared playfully, hugging Felicity a little tighter.

Felicity's smile dimmed a little. "I haven't heard from dad…"

"Tony is… Well, he's Tony. I'm sure he has a reason for why hasn't come back." Dinah kissed Felicity's forehead. "He knows you're okay, that you're with people who love you. He can take all the time he wants, as long as I get to have you a while longer."

Felicity's lips trembled a little, both at the idea that her father would take his time and that her mother wanted to keep her. She blinked quickly as her eyes burned a little and pressed a little closer to her mom, breathing in that soft, lilac scent of her. "What are you knitting?" she wondered.

"Would you believe that it started out as a pair of mittens?"

Felicity laughed. "Those are huge mittens."

"Oh, honey, they're not mittens at all. At this point, I think I'm just fooling myself. I'm hoping if I keep going, it'll suddenly resemble something, but I'm not sure my hopes will be answered."

She laughed lightly. "Well, I'd help you, but I don't think I got any of grandma's knitting skills either."

"We can be hopeless knitters together then."

"We can start a club.  _Knitless_." She laughed at her own joke, smiling widely as Dinah let her head fall back and laughed far deeper than her terrible pun was worth. She love her that much more for it.

* * *

Sara was not a morning person. Well, actually, neither was Felicity. Oh, she could pretend if she had to, and she always made sure she was up and ready during the school week, but if she had the opportunity to sleep in, that was exactly what she wanted to do. But, it appeared neither of them were allowed to do that Saturday morning.

Laurel woke Sara, telling her she was joining her on a shopping spree. Felicity was, thankfully, not included because she had Oliver coming over. Hence the reason she was up as early as she was. That was a little of Quentin's doing since he wanted to go over house rules when a boy was involved. On the bright side, he made breakfast, so she thought she might forgive him, maybe, a little.

"Oh God, bacon…" Felicity moaned, staring at the bowl her step-father placed on the table beside a bowl of scrambled eggs and a plate stacked with French toast. She hadn't seen a breakfast feast like this since last summer. Quentin was always the best for that. He liked to cook and, since Dinah always had work to do, he usually took it upon himself to make most of the meals they enjoyed. But breakfast and lunch were mostly free for alls due to conflicting schedules. In the summer, the girls tended to sleep in while he had to get up and head to work. Every once in a while though, something like this would happen.

"All right, all right, try not to drool too much. Dig in," he told them, waving his hands at the food before he took his seat at the head of the table. He folded his fingers together as he watched them for a moment. Bowls were handed around as each of them filled their plates and he took the bacon from Laurel before he said, "Since I got all three of you here, I think it's a good time to talk about, well, boys."

Sara's brows hiked and she let out a scoff, which meant a few scrambled eggs dribbled out of her mouth. "That's cheating! You tricked us with food. This is entrapment!" she declared, waving her fork.

Quentin snorted, rolling his eyes. "It's effective policing. Take it up with my superior if you got a problem, but your mom already knew I'd pull this…" He looked around at each of them and then sighed. "Look, I'm not opposed to you dating, I'm not. Do I want you to? Not really. But am I gonna stop you? 'Course not. I just… I want you guys to be safe. And I don't just mean in a…" His lip curled, "I don't just mean, uh… condoms." He choked the last word out like it physically hurt. "I mean, I want you to take care of your hearts, too. There are some… not so great guys out there and I don't want any of you fallin' for the wrong sort. You've all got big hearts and you're too damn beautiful for your own goods and, well, any guy who wouldn't fall for you three would be a damn fool. So just… be aware and be careful and… don't go fallin' for the first cute boy that comes along, you know?" He shrugged. "There's no shame in waiting… Forty's a good age. You'll be done with college, you got a good career behind you, probably got your own house…"

"Forty? _Dad!_ " Sara snorted. "Besides, we've all had boyfriends, we just never told you." She stuffed a large chunk of French toast into her mouth, talking as she chewed, "Lissy might already know how to stay ' _protected_.'" She laughed, winking at her sister across the table.

Quentin went pale, his eyes darting toward her. He opened his mouth, paused, and then said, "Don't tell me. I don't wanna know. I just… I want you to be careful, that's all. I want all of you to be careful."

Laurel looked amused. "Dad, are you blushing?"

He shifted in his seat. "What?  _No_ , I… I'm just warm. The stove was hot. I've been cookin' all morning for you three."

"You're blushing!" Laurel grinned at him. "Aww, poor guy, your little girls are growing up…" She carefully cut off a piece of her French toast and bit into it, the polar opposite to her younger sister.

"Not too fast, I hope," he muttered, sighing as he looked down at his breakfast.

There was a defeated look to him, Felicity thought. His shoulders were slumped a little, his face somewhat slack. It was the look of a man who'd come to accept that his kids really were growing up and there was nothing he could do to change it. Oh, he could give them information and ask them to be smart and careful, but he couldn't guarantee that any of it would stick.

Felicity smiled to herself as she stabbed a bite of her eggs onto her fork.

Tony never talked to her about boys or sex or self-respect. When she was fourteen, he tossed a box of condoms on her bed, told her he wasn't the kind of guy who should ever be a grandpa, and then walked away. He couldn't meet her eyes and, later, pretended it never happened. She bought birth control for the first time when she was fifteen, more for her period than anything; her mother called it a bonding experience and spent much of the day talking about what it was like when she was Felicity's age. It was nice, and very different from what she was used to with Tony. Sometimes she wondered how her parents every managed to get along long enough to conceive her, they seemed like two completely different people. But then her dad would grin that charming smile of hers and she'd remember that he could dupe just about anyone into thinking he was something other than what he was.

"When's the boy comin' over?" Quentin wondered gruffly, looking over at Felicity as he rested his elbows on the table.

"Just after one," she answered. "He has to drop his sister off at ballet and then he'll be here."

He grunted, and Felicity hid a smile behind her glass of orange juice. She'd take that over Tony's general attitude of just ignoring her any day.

* * *

Laurel and Sara left at eleven. Felicity took some time to tidy up around the apartment, even though it was pretty much immaculate, and did a little of her of the homework she'd had emailed to her to pass the time. She felt nervous. She liked Oliver. She'd liked boys before, of course, but this felt different.  _He_ was different. He was so… focused. Whenever they were together, she felt like she was the center of his attention. Oh, that seemed kind of selfish. It was just… the way he talked to her and listened to her, it was like he refused to let anything else interrupt or enter the bubble that formed around them. Like he blocked out the rest of the world so he could hear what she was saying, even if it was a pointless five-minute ramble about absolutely nothing important.

She'd never really felt like that before. Overlooked and ignored were better adjectives for how she generally felt. It wasn't her mother's fault. Felicity lived a completely separate life from her and often kept the worst details from Dinah. Sometimes she wasn't sure why she did it. A last ditch effort to keep Tony from getting in trouble? A misplaced desperation not to look pathetic in comparison to the rest of her family? She wasn't sure. All she knew was that her home life was pretty, well, sad. She loved Tony. He was…  _dad_. But their living conditions were kind of dismal and food was scarce and she always felt like she was cleaning up after him. She wasn't the center of his world, just the cleaning crew after he'd demolished what little he had in the world. When it came to her sisters and mom, she kind of felt like she didn't get to spend enough time with them to make any real impression. She came and went before anything got a chance to really bond them together. Maybe that was just on her side though?

She knew they loved her. She never questioned that. And even Tony loved her in his own way. But this felt good. To be independent and exploring something with Oliver that was at her own pace, however fast or slow she wanted that to be. There was an expiration date, of course. She wouldn't be in Starling City forever. But it could be fun while it lasted. She could enjoy this feeling for as long as she had it, so why not?

Oliver showed up just after one with a box of Orville Redenbacher and a pack of red vines.

Quentin took it upon himself to clean his guns in the living room while she and Oliver sat beside each other to watch the movie.

From what she could tell, he was enjoying it. Felicity split her attention between watching the movie and his face, trying to gauge his enthusiasm level. Every once in a while, his mouth would twitch, and she took it as a sign that he'd caught her staring. So, she'd turn back around and watch the screen for a while, until eventually something big was about to happen, and she'd look back to see how he'd react.

He'd snuck an arm around her early on, first with the excuse that he was going to feed her popcorn from the bowl in her lap, but when he rubbed a whole handful on her mouth just to bug her, she banned him from feeding her anymore. "Spoilsport," he sighed, but left his arm around her shoulders.

They were a little over an hour in when he asked, "There's a book, too?"

"Three," she told him, nodding. "Just like there'll be three movies. And The Hobbit, but that's not part of this series. There's an animated version though."

"Do you have the books?"

"Mm-hmm." She nodded, plucking a red vine from the bag on his leg and biting off the end. "Not here, though. Back home."

"Huh…" He frowned thoughtfully. "Maybe I'll pick them up downtown before I head home."

She smiled. "Yeah?"

He looked over at her, his gaze falling to her lips. "Yeah."

Quentin cleared his throat, drawing their attention. "So, Oliver… You're seventeen."

"I am."

Her step-father raised an eyebrow. "Any plans for your future?"

Oliver shrugged, settling back against the couch, his hand cupping and squeezing her shoulder. "College and then, I don't know, I guess I'll get a job at QC and shadow my dad for a while."

"QC?" Felicity asked, brow furrowed.

"Queen Consolidated," he explained. "My dad's the CEO."

"Right, you mentioned that, I guess I just didn't think about how… big that was." Her eyes darted away as she bit her lip.

"So you wanna go into business?" Quentin asked, eyebrow raised. "You see yourself calling the shots in some big office?"

Oliver frowned. "I wouldn't say it was my first thought, but it's what my dad's expecting, so…"

Quentin's eyes narrowed. "You always do what's expected of you?"

His mouth turned up in what could only be described as a smirk. "No, sir. Not generally."

The front door swung open then and Felicity was relieved to see Laurel walking down the hall, a few shopping bags hanging from her fingers. She frowned, however, when Sara wasn't pulling up the rear. Then again, it wasn't uncommon for Sara to go her own way whenever she felt like it. Still, the tension between Quentin and Oliver would probably lighten a whole lot more if Sara were around to distract her dad.

"Laurel, hey…" Felicity paused the movie. "We're watching  _Fellowship of the Ring,_  if you're interested…"

Laurel pushed her sunglasses up into her hair as she tossed her car keys into a dish and started pulling off her jacket. " _Lord of the Rings_? Again? Between you and dad, I'll have that movie memor…" She paused as she spotted Oliver on the couch. "Ollie!" she said, her voice pitched a little higher and her eyes wide. "What… What are you doing here?"

He half-smiled and pointed a thumb to the TV. "Movie." He turned to Felicity then. "I'm counting this as our second date, just so you know."

Felicity rolled her eyes. "Last night you said frozen yogurt was our second date."

He grinned. "You're right, this is our third." With that, he leaned over and pressed a sloppy kiss against her cheek.

Felicity laughed, ducking her head, but stopped when she noticed the overwhelming tension otherwise. When she looked up, she found her step-dad glaring a hole into Oliver's head and her sister looking confused and… hurt?

But then Laurel turned on her heel and said, "I just remembered I was supposed to study at Tamara's house. I'll be back for dinner." And then she was gone, sweeping out of the apartment as quickly as she'd arrived.

Felicity's brows furrowed and she looked back at Oliver. "You know my sister?"

He nodded. "Yeah, I've met her a few times… Usually at one of Tommy's parties."

She hummed, wondering what Laurel's issue was, but then Oliver grabbed up the remote. "This was just getting good," he said, hitting play. "What are the chances you know Elvish?"

She felt her cheeks darken with the force of her blush but raised her chin defiantly.

He grinned. "I might need a tutor." He looked over at her, brow raised. "Interested?"

Quentin sighed loudly in the background.

Felicity smothered a smile by resting her head on Oliver's shoulder. His arm wrapped around her a little tighter and she happily forgot all about Laurel to enjoy the movie. Although, it was kind of hard to pay much attention to even Aragorn's good looks when she had Oliver beside her.

The memory of an awesome "third" date would soon be ruined, however, when Laurel refused to say one word to her for the next week.

* * *

Felicity had to admit, she didn't actually notice Laurel was ignoring her at first. She was a little busy. She'd had boyfriends in the past, but things with Oliver were different. For example, he wanted to hang out every day and he always found something new for them to do. Her previous relationships had been a lot more open-ended. They hung out at school and went out a few nights of the week, usually down to the only burger joint in town. There was a distinct lack of passion in those relationships. No desire pushing them to want to be together as often as possible. She never really missed her boyfriends when they weren't around, though she was content when they were. She was happy with her life, independent and happy to stay that way. She had her friends, and they always came first. But, she'd liked being held and making out and having that hand to grab when she felt like it.

With Oliver, she always felt like it. She looked forward to their next chance to be together which, if it were up to Oliver, would be always.

On Sunday, he showed up at her apartment with the first Lord of the Rings book and asked her if she wanted to read it together, which didn't mean reading out loud so much as cuddling up on the couch together and silently reading each page at the same time. Sometimes she finished first and she'd turn her head to find his brow furrowed as he tried to catch up. Other times he'd finish first and try to distract her by kissing her face.

"Hey, I'm almost done," she laughed, closing her eyes as he pressed kisses down her cheek. " _S-Stop!_ "

"Not my fault you're a slow reader," he told her, nuzzling her nose with his.

Suffice it to say, it took a lot longer to read than it probably should have. Of course, they didn't get anywhere near finished before reading dissolved into making out, the book lost to the cushions of the couch. They were only broken up when Sara decided to throw herself over the back of the couch and land on them.

"Sar- _a_!" Felicity complained.

Her sister laughed, her head thrown back in amusement. "Dinner's ready," she said as explanation before hopping off them. Turning back, she added, "And you're welcome, by the way. If dad walked in one that, Ollie would have an extra hole somewhere in his body…" With that, she winked, and turned on her heel to walk back to the kitchen.

Oliver buried his face at her shoulder and nipped her neck. "Might be worth getting shot."

Felicity rolled her eyes, even as she bit her lip to keep from smiling. "Come on…" She climbed over him and grabbed his hand to drag him with her. "You need to make a good impression on my step-dad, and we should probably start with getting that lipstick off you."

He grinned as he followed her toward the bathroom, and pressed up behind her, arms wrapped around her waist. "I don't know. I think it's my color…"

She'd by lying if she said she didn't add more lipstick to that entirely too handsome face before she got to cleaning it off.

On Monday, they took a walk through the park. She bought ice cream for them and then sat on a fountain as he deliberated on what he wanted to wish for with the remaining change. She licked at her mint chocolate chip cone while he flicked a quarter in the air and caught it, over and over.

"Your ice cream's melting," she told him.

In answer, he leaned over and licked a strip off of hers.

"Hey!" She yanked her cone out of reach from him, but he only laughed, licking the green ice cream from his lips cheerfully. "What do you think, Felicity? What should I wish for? I'm pretty set financially, I've got a gorgeous girlfriend, the best friend a guy could want… What's left?"

She paused for a moment, caught up with the 'g' word (girlfriend, not gorgeous, although that seemed a little generous to her thinking), but he didn't seem to catch it.

Oliver flipped the coin again and turned to grin at her. "How about…" He nodded. "Got it." And with that, he tossed the coin over his shoulder to sink down to the bottom of the fountain.

"You know, some poor homeless person is probably just going to gather up that change and buy something to eat, right? This fountain, probably put here by the city and holding absolutely no magical powers whatsoever, is not going to grant your greatest desire…" She shook her head, licking her ice cream.

Oliver slung an arm around her waist and pulled her closer. "What if my wish was for a homeless guy to get a sandwich? Then my wish  _would_ have come true."

She laughed, helpless against her smile. "You're a dork."

"Thank you." He leaned over to kiss her. "You taste good."

"I bet you'd taste better if you ate your ice cream," she said, nodding at the melting scoop of double chocolate chunk.

He shook his head, his nose brushing hers. "Yours tastes better." He ducked down for another kiss and she had to admit, he didn't taste bad at all.

On Wednesday, Oliver took her to laser tag, which she won, no matter how many times he said different.

Thursday, they went to see Two Towers, which, unsurprisingly, he loved, even if he did complain that the wait for Return of the King was already too long, exactly fifteen minutes after leaving the theater.

Friday night, he hung out with her and Sara while their mom and Quentin went on their mandatory date night. They ordered in Chinese food and watched movies while Sara talked on the phone to various friends and frequently teased Felicity for being so cheesy with her boyfriend. And there was the 'b' word, which she had yet to use but Oliver didn't seem to so much as blink at. She was pretty sure they should actually have that conversation, but it seemed pretty cut and dry. It wasn't that she didn't want him to be her boyfriend, she did. She just wasn't sure how that was going to work in the long-term. That was another thing… On Saturday, they talked about her dad.

"So he left?"

She nodded, sitting on her bed (or, well, the guest bed that was currently being used by her). "About three weeks ago… He just… I don't know. He said he had to do something and he'd be back in a week and then…  _nothing_."

"What'd he have to do?"

She glanced at her bedroom door, which was cracked open, because Quentin had made it clear that she absolutely was not allowed to have Oliver in her room with the door closed. "Uh…" She hopped off her bed and moved to the door, leaning out to see if anybody was listening.

Just as she was about to close it, she felt Oliver pressed up behind her. "Is this a top secret thing?" he whispered against her ear. "Should we have codenames?"

Felicity rolled her eyes and stepped back. Nobody was close enough to hear, so she decided it'd be okay to tell him. Taking his hand, she dragged him back to her bed and hopped up, patting the space beside her.

Sitting down as requested, he cocked his head. "So?"

"My dad…" She frowned. Where to start? "He gambles. And I don't just mean he drops by the casino and loses a twenty here or there. I mean, he bets on horses and sports games and he sometimes plays poker where the stakes are entirely too high for him to afford…" She glanced at him, feeling a wave of shame. "Anyway, he does this sometimes. Loses too much and then has to find a way to pay it back. So, he does, it just… It's not easy and it takes a little time and sometimes the bookies get impatient. And when they're impatient, they're rough. They… They've never hurt  _me_ , but… there's a first time for everything. So, I think he just thought it'd be easier if I was here. What are the odds they'd try something if I was living with a cop, right?" She sighed. "Anyway, it was only supposed to be a week. He'd make up the money, pay them back, and we'd go back to business as usual."

Oliver was quiet for a moment before he asked, "He told you that? About the bookies?"

She shook her head. "No. I've just… I know the signs. He had a black eye, his hand was bandaged up. Usually, he tells me to go stay at one of my friends' houses, so him bringing me out here means it's probably serious… But I know him. He'll figure it out. He'll fix it."

Oliver was staring at her, and she was staring at the pattern on her comforter.

"Hey…"

Slowly, she raised her head to see him.

"That sucks… This stuff with your dad, it sucks. And I know you want him to come back and to fix all of this, but… What if you're better off here?"

Her brow furrowed. "He's not a bad guy," she defended. "He makes mistakes and he doesn't always think things through, but… He's my dad."

Oliver glanced away for a moment, but eventually he nodded. "Okay." He pulled her into his side and hugged her, pressing a kiss to her hair. Felicity wrapped her arms around his waist and sighed.

She'd never told anyone but Jenn and Kelsey about her dad's gambling. She'd always been afraid of how others might judge her or what they might do if they found out things at home weren't exactly the safest environment. Her dad used to tell her when she was a kid that CPS might take her if the wrong people found out. It used to scare her; the idea that these strangers might swoop in and take her from the only home she really knew. He didn't tell her she'd probably be put with her mom, so she always just assumed she'd be put into a foster home, far away from her family and her friends. As she grew up, that fear still lingered, so she learned how to act like things were normal. She got really good at taking care of herself and not letting on that things were tough at home. But it felt good to finally be honest with someone, even if she wasn't ready to admit that her dad had some serious faults when it came to parenting.

She pressed a little closer to Oliver's chest and appreciated how his arms tightened around her. He was a pretty good boyfriend considering they'd only been together a week.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can I just begin this by saying "WOW!" I can't believe the response I got to this story. I'm overwhelmed and overjoyed and so, so excited that you're all so enthusiastic about this story!
> 
> There are so many dynamics to explore, between sisters and daughter-father and mother-daughter and then the relationship between Felicity and Oliver. I've mentioned to a few other people that it's a bit of a likeness to Dinah/Quentin in that it's somewhat of a whirlwind, and that's evidenced a few times in this chapter as Oliver is jumping in with both feet. He likes her, he's not holding back, he's invested. Felicity is a little more aware of how reality plays a part and how different their worlds are and the fact that she's supposed to go back to Central City; in fact, she's overdue to.
> 
> We'll be seeing more of the Felicity/Laurel dynamic soon, too. I do want to preface that with the fact that Laurel and Felicity have tension that has nothing to do with Oliver. There's a some deeper issues going on that will be explored, so it's not simply because of a boy. There's some sibling rivalry and the like to come.
> 
> Anyway, I'm quite happy to post this much earlier than I usually would. I generally prefer to wait up to a week, but the response was just so phenomenal that I couldn't help myself. You guys are insanely awesome!
> 
> Thank you so much for reading, please do leave a review, they keep me writing and eager to post (and early too, as we can see, hah)
> 
> \- **Lee | Fina**


	3. Chapter 3

[ ](http://dhfreak.tumblr.com/post/87671064528/what-does-home-look-like-ive-only-seen-shadows)

**III.**

It was Sunday when she realized Laurel was going out of her way to avoid her.

She ate her dinner in her bedroom, citing studying as the reason, and when Felicity asked her if she wanted to come with her and Sara to the mall, she'd ignored them until they went away.

"What's up with Laurel?" she finally asked, sitting at a table across from Sara in the food court.

With a mouthful of burger, Sara answered, "Oh, she's just pissed you're dating her crush."

Felicity's eyes widened. "Wait. I'm what?"

"Yeah." She shrugged. "Laurel's been crushing on Ollie for a long time now. I thought you knew…"

She sputtered, her eyes wide in surprise. "What?  _No_! Of course, I didn't! Why would I date Laurel's crush?"

Sara took a sip of her soda, giving the cup a rattle to move the ice around. "Because he's hot and he asked you out and I don't think  _anybody_ 's ever turned him down before."

"I… I didn't know Laurel liked anyone." She frowned, balling her napkin up in her hand. "She must be so angry with me…"

Sara nodded. "Yeah, she complains to Tamara about it a lot. Girl code, right?"

Felicity's brow furrowed. "There's a code?"

"Girl code. You know, you can't date someone else's crush or ex or whatever. I mean, that's more of a friendship thing, but with sister's it's twice as big."

She'd never heard of that. Neither of her two best friends said anything about a code. Although, with Kelsey's track record, that severely depleted the options at her high school, and she never stuck with anyone long, so she really didn't care who dated them after her. And, well, it felt like Jenn had been with her boyfriend for like,  _ever_. With the exception of her boyfriend and one other guy, most of Jenn's previous crushes had also been girls, so that made the chances of Felicity dating anybody she liked even smaller.

"So… I'm breaking girl code by dating Laurel's crush?" Her lips pursed. "Even if I didn't  _know_ she liked him?"

Sara shrugged. "I didn't make the rules."

"But that's… dumb. I mean, Oliver isn't her property and I had no idea she even liked him. She never told me and she didn't say  _anything_ when she saw us together. Then again she never says anything to me  _ever_ anymore…" She threw her hands up in frustration. "What do I do?"

Sara grabbed up a fry from the basket in front of her and shrugged. "Personally, I'd go with make-out with Oliver Queen until your lips fall off… But I could be biased."

Felicity rolled her eyes, but a smile tugged at her mouth. "That's not helpful, Sar."

"But still good advice, right?" she said, cheekily.

Felicity huffed, but grabbed up her burger and curbed the issue for now. She had a date with Oliver tonight and, despite what she'd just learned, she wasn't ready to just scrap it. Did that make her a terrible sister?

* * *

"I think you might be the worst bowler I've ever seen in my life," Oliver told her, leaning back against the plastic bench, his arms spread over the back as she walked toward him.

"Shut up," she muttered. "You know, I'm not usually this uncoordinated. I run track back home."

He raised an eyebrow, a grin playing at his lips. "Yeah? With those tiny shorts." He reached for her, his fingers teasing over her jean-clad legs.

She batted his hand away but stepped closer, until she was standing in between his knees. "Yes, with the tiny shorts. More importantly, however, I placed third last year. Which is a shining achievement. I even have a ribbon to prove it."

"A ribbon? That sounds special." His hands settled on her hips, tugging her forward and turning her until she landed in his lap, one of her arms looped around his neck. He stroked a hand down her back. "Tell me about it."

She scoffed. "You really want to hear about my boring track meet where I didn't even win first place?"

He nodded, looking up at her, seeming far more sincere than she expected. "Yeah, I wanna hear everything about it." His fingers rubbed up and down her side. "Tell me all about Coast City."

Felicity narrowed her eyes at him. "Is this a fact-gathering mission? Are you learning about my home so you can prove to me that it's better here so I won't leave?"

He laughed, his head falling back. "Maybe."

Helpless to her smile, she leaned down to kiss him, nuzzling her nose with his. "If I tell you, then you have to show me how you keep getting strikes," she told him, her lips brushing his with every word.

He nodded, kissing her once, twice, and turning his head to kiss her cheek. "Deal."

So she did. She told him all about her boring track meet, from the really awful heat wave that hit, making her feel all clammy, to how she had trouble pinning her stupid number on her shirt, and how Jenn and Kelsey made up a sign for her and screamed louder than anybody else there. She told him about the blisters she had after, because she'd stupidly bought new running shoes just for that run and they weren't broken in yet. And how afterwards, to celebrate, Kelsey got her completely shit faced and she woke up in Jennifer's kiddie pool, her face in the grass and #3 written on her cheek in Sharpie.

He laughed, his chin resting on her shoulder. "Sounds like quite the party."

Felicity shrugged. "I think anything's fun when you've got Jenn and Kelsey around."

He hummed, turning his head up to kiss her neck. "Come on…" He patted her hip. "Let a pro show you how to bowl."

Felicity rolled her eyes. "Don't stroke your ego too hard."

Taking her by the hips, he walked her toward where the bowling balls were sitting in wait. "I could always let  _you_  stroke it," he said against her ear.

Felicity shivered, feeling a little breathless as she leaned back against him.

"Tempting," she managed to say. "But I don't see my score getting any better."

She could feel him grinning against her cheek before he reached over to grab up a ball and brought her to their lane.

For all that he'd been flirting, and had the very obvious opportunity to feel her up rather than teach her anything, Oliver actually turned out to be a really good teacher. He modeled his own strike first and then, when it was her turn, he showed her how to aim properly, how to swing her arm to get maximum velocity, and how her body should be angled. She got a spare instead of a strike, but it was something. And if she spent five minutes kissing him for that achievement then, well, she was just a very appreciative student.

* * *

Later that night, despite an awesome date, Felicity found herself thinking over her current issue again.

"Hey, mom, can we talk?" Felicity asked, stepping into the den, shifting her feet uncertainly.

"Of course, honey." Dinah put her books off to the side. "What is it? Is it cramps? Did Aunt Flo come to visit?"

"What?" She flushed. " _No_."

"Are you sure? Because I know Laurel's got her period and usually all us girls start around the same time."

Shaking her head, she moved to take a seat on the chair across from her. Growing up with her dad meant conversations like this were rare and she didn't know how comfortable she felt talking about it. Besides, that  _so_  wasn't what she'd planned to talk about. So, completely ignoring the previous topic, she changed the subject. "When you and Aunt Susan were growing up, did you guys ever fight about boys?"

Dinah looked confused for only a moment before she laughed. "Of course we did. I never had one boyfriend Susan ever approved of. Even Quentin. She just hated him on sight."

Felicity nodded, tucking her feet up under her and picking at the frayed knee of her jeans. "Did you guys ever like the same boys though?"

Dinah leaned back in her chair for a moment, her head tipped. "Actually, we did,  _once_ , in tenth grade. I liked an older boy, someone in her grade. She'd liked him for some time before I even noticed him."

"Did you… ever date him?" she wondered.

Humming, she shook her head. "No, I think he asked me out to a dance once, but I knew Sue liked him by then, so I told him no." She grinned then and offered a wink. "You always pick your family over a boy, honey. Men, they come and go, but you have to live with your sisters for your whole life, and that is one argument you don't want to be having for the next sixty or seventy years."

Felicity's heart lurched. "Right. That makes sense."

"What's all this about then? Are Sara and Laurel fighting about a boy again?"

Felicity shook her head and forced a smile. "No, just curious. I haven't talked to Aunt Susan in a while. How is she?"

Having turned her mother's attention elsewhere, Felicity simply nodded along as her mother informed her of Susan's life and how her family was doing. But in her head, she couldn't help but wonder if continuing to date Oliver wouldn't be worth sixty or seventy years of Laurel occasionally reminding her that she was a sucky sister.

* * *

Felicity picked at the fringe on her purse, half-slumped in the passenger seat, watching the city pass by outside the window.

"Y'know, a good idea might be to get you a bus pass," Quentin said from the driver's seat. "If you're gonna be around a while, there's no better way to learn the city than on the bus. Takes you everywhere."

She glanced at him. "Sorry you have to drive me out to the library. This essay I'm writing needs a lot of research. I wouldn't ask if there was another way."

He shook his head, his brows hiked. "Hey, no, I'm not complainin', all right?" He nodded over at her. "We need to spend more time together, me an' you. I just thought, well, if you're gonna stick around a while, you might as well get familiar with the city, right?"

Felicity wasn't sure if he was digging, or hinting, but she felt compelled to answer. "I don't know if I am… sticking around, that is."

The silence hung thick in the air then until eventually, he sighed. "Listen, sweetheart… I know things are tough, and probably confusing, with your dad not comin' back yet, but… I just want you to know, me an' Dinah, we're happy you're here. We're not tryin' to get rid of you, y'know?" He kept glancing at her, longer at stop lights, but still trying to keep his eyes steady on the road. "We like it when you come down for the summers and when we get to see you on holidays, but… You gotta know, we miss you when you're not around. A lot." He half-smiled at her. "Why d'you think I've been watchin' that Lord of the Rings so much, huh?"

Felicity's mouth twitched. "You keep falling asleep. I just figured you wanted to know how it ended."

He snorted, shaking his head. "I want us to talk more. I want us to have things, just me and you. Laurel and I, we debate sometimes. I know she wants to be a big shot lawyer, and good for her. She always goes for the throat; she'll be good at it. And Sara…" He sighed. "That girl'll be good at anything she sets her heart on, just as soon as she figures out what it is." He smiled proudly. "She probably wouldn't wanna hear it, but she'd make a helluva cop."

Felicity smiled. She could see that. Sara, for all that she could be rebellious, could be an awesome cop. She was tougher than she looked and she was confident. But, Quentin was right, she was still too much of a wild card right now to pin down. Whatever she decided to do though, Felicity was sure she'd be amazing at it, and she'd support her all the way.

"You, you're smart, book smart and world smart, y'know? I know you want to go to MIT and I'll be right there, front row at your graduation," he promised, no hesitation whatsoever. "We got a little bit of time until then, so why don't we use it? There's a baseball game coming up next weekend. I know we haven't gone since you were still in pigtails, but… If you're up for it, I'll buy the dogs, we'll get some tickets, make it a thing. What do you say?"

Felicity was surprised by the burst of warmth in her chest. "Yeah, I'd like that."

He grinned, looking out at the road quite proudly. "All right then."

Later, when he pulled up at the library, he waited in the car, thumbing the Lord of the Rings book that Oliver had left behind the previous weekend while she ran inside to get what she need for her essay. Standing in the aisles, with a paper in hand filled with titles, she couldn't quite wipe the smile from her face. Maybe things were better than they seemed. Maybe hanging around Starling City a while longer, getting to know Quentin and her sisters and Oliver, it wouldn't be the worst thing to happen.

* * *

As much as she was enjoying her time in Starling City, however, that didn't make her any less homesick.

"Jesus, Smoaks, when are you coming home?" Kelsey complained. "This place is falling to pieces without you."

Felicity rolled her eyes, grabbing up a pillow from her bed and hugging it to her chest. Affection for her overdramatic best friend made her smile. "I'm sure the school is still completely intact."

"Well, it shouldn't be. And if Denise would ever get me those cherry bombs I asked for, it  _wouldn't_  be."

Groaning, Felicity shook her head. "Cherry bombs? Kelsey,  _what_ are you doing?"

"Alleviating boredom," she answered simply. "Do you have any idea how boring it is here without you? I mean, Jenn's got school and those lame clubs she in and what do I have, huh? I mean, besides a very enjoyable black book of fun times and a killer wardrobe…"

"Because those are totally awful things that don't matter at all…" she scoffed, picking at the scalloped edges of her pillow case.

"Whatever. What I need in my life is a cute blonde that frequently babbles, but my favorite girl's taken off for parts unknown—"

She snorted. "You literally know  _exactly_  where I am!"

"—leaving me to suffer all by my lonesome—"

"You have Jenn with you!" she laughed. "You just left her in class to use the bathroom!"

"—I mean, what's a fashionable girl to do?"

"I don't know." She shrugged. "But blowing up the bathrooms sounds like a bad idea."

"Sounded pretty good at the time."

Felicity rolled her eyes. "That should be your tag-line, you know that?"

"And you love me for it."

A smile played at her lips. "I do not."

"Do too! Tell me you love me! C'mon, Smoaky, declare your undying love, right here and now, loud and proud, baby."

" _Miss. Harris, shouldn't you be in Biology?"_  a voice suddenly interrupted.

A pause replied, and then, "I refuse to answer that due to it possibly implicating me in some way."

Felicity sighed. "Oh my God, Kelsey, go to class!"

"I demand to see a lawyer! This is unjust treatment and I—"

"Kelsey!" Felicity exclaimed, laughing despite herself.

"All right, fine, geez. I'm going to class." She made a smacking noise then. "Kisses, Smoaks. Come home soon!"

"Yeah, yeah," she muttered, shaking her head. "Tell Jenn I'll call her later. And Kels? Please, be good. You don't need another suspension."

"I probably didn't  _need_ the first one," she scoffed. "No promises, but I will  _try_  to let Jenn's goody-goodness rub off on me. And not in the fun way."

With that, they hung up, and Felicity flopped back against her bed, an ache in her chest resembling her best friends. Oh, she loved spending time with her sisters (well, mostly Sara at this point, since Laurel still refused to really talk to her) and Oliver, but it wasn't quite the same as having her two best friends there. Sighing, she put her phone away and dug out the homework she'd been ignoring, deciding it was better to focus on something constructive than on something she was missing… Then again, that was probably why she was at the top of her class and had a crapload of issues she'd never dealt with. What a weirdly accomplished version of procrastination…

* * *

"Are we going anywhere particular, or are we just wasting gas?" Felicity wondered as she turned away from the view out the car window to see Oliver beside her. He looked good today. Well, actually, he looked good every day. But she was liking the pale blue button up, the collar left open, and the sleeves rolled up his forearms. He had nice forearms, and upper arms, and shoulders, and she could do this all day…

He grinned, raising an eyebrow at her. "Is it a waste if you're having fun?"

"That's some deep-thinking, Mr. Queen," she teased, rolling her eyes.

He shook his head, giving an exaggerated shudder. "Mr. Queen is my father." Reaching for her hand, he raised it to his mouth and kissed her knuckles.

"Yeah? Sara and Laurel call you Ollie," she remembered, brows hiked. She let the name roll around on her tongue before discarding it. "I think I'll stick with Oliver."

"Good. I like the way it sounds when you say it." He twined their fingers together and rested them on the stick shift. "Now what do you say to going a little faster?"

She watched him, that mischievous smile curling up the corners of his mouth. "Sometimes I think you're trouble, Oliver Queen."

He turned to look at her before he pushed a button, lowering the roof on his car. "I can be," he admitted, the wind whipping around them loudly, grabbing her hair and throwing it around her face. "What do you say, Felicity? Let's run away… Responsibility, school, parents… Fuck 'em all. Let's just drive… Anywhere you wanna go, I'll take you."

She looked back at him, the spark in his eyes, and she thought maybe he was a little more troubled than trouble.

She tightened her hand around his and leaned over, her head falling to his shoulder. "Pull over," she said close to his ear, so the wind wouldn't drown her out.

It took him a moment, but eventually he did, and when the wind finally settled and they were off the road, still and quiet, she moved. Catching his chin, she pressed down on it until he looked at her. "Hey," she murmured.

He looked at her, half-smiling as he reached up to finger-comb her hair back into some semblance of sense. "Hey," he said back. His fingers kept stroking, down her face and her neck and across her shoulders. He was a tactile guy, always looking for a way to touch her, and she couldn't say she disliked that. Sometimes she didn't even think it was sexual, it was like he was reaching out in his own way, making sure she was there, needing to remind himself that he had something solid and real in front of him.

"You wanna talk?"

His arm wrapped around her and pulled her in close. "Can I just hold you for a bit?"

She nodded against his neck, settling her arm over his stomach and running her fingers up and down his side. He smelled good; she closed her eyes and just breathed him in. She could get used to this, the comfort that came with having him hold onto her and holding him right back.

He held her for a while, and time ticked past, unnoticed, uncounted. Eventually, he started drawing shapes and letters on her back while he talked quietly, just loud enough for her to here. "You ever get stuck somewhere and you just… stay there? 'Cause it's easy and you're used to it and… nobody really expects you to go anywhere else?"

She didn't answer, but then, she wasn't sure it was a question so much as a statement.

"My parents have these expectations that I'll go off to some Ivy League school and everything will just fall into place. I'll smarten up and I'll buckle down and I'll walk out with a degree or a diploma or whatever. And then I'll take over QC and replace my dad when he retires; a 9-to-5 job that's really more like 24/7. And for some reason I'm supposed to be happy with that, or want that. But… I don't. I don't want the ivory tower. I like the other stuff, I like getting away with things because of my family name, and I like knowing that, even if I royally fuck things up, I've got a pretty padded trust fund to keep me going. But I know all that stuff isn't going to matter in ten or twenty years." He shrugged. "Right now though. Right now I just wish I didn't feel like my whole life was already decided for me and that I just have to go along with it."

She was quiet for a moment, playing with a button on the front of his shirt. "So, why do you?" she eventually asked.

He smiled and dropped a kiss to the top of her head. "Because it's a lot easier pretending everything is easy than it is actually dealing with any of it… And maybe if I ignore it long enough, it'll all just go away."

She hummed, squeezing her arm around him. Because maybe she understood that a lot better than she should, especially for someone who didn't come from a family that had the same expectations his did. Oliver grew up in a different world than her. Where her dad barely remembered to buy milk so she'd have it for cereal in the morning, his dad had already mapped out his entire future for him. Were either of them better or worse? She hoped Oliver's dad was better. That maybe if Oliver spoke up and said he wanted something different, Mr. Queen would listen. What she knew was that she asked Tony to pick up milk every week, and he remembered maybe once a month.

Oliver laughed then, in that way people do when they're uncomfortable with their own honesty.

Felicity tapped her fingers against his chest. She didn't have all the answers. She couldn't solve his life for him or stick him on the right path. She could only be there, only hold him when he needed to be held.

"I like you," he said against her ear. "I  _really_ like you."

She kissed the underside of his chin and lifted her head. "I like you, too."

When his mouth slanted over hers, she felt it down to her toes, but not like before. This wasn't the unknown, the spark of that something new with someone handsome and exciting. This was warm and familiar and full of the knowledge that Oliver wasn't perfect or the sum of the angles of his face. He was a little damaged and a lot unsure and he was just trying to figure himself out in a world that had already decided who he was for him. So she kissed him a little harder and she held on a little tighter and she promised she would always see  _him_.

They sat in that car on the side of the road, kissing, slow and deep, fast and frenzied, until the sun began to set and time caught up. And then he lifted his head and asked her, "How's home sound?"

She nodded, sliding back to her seat, and it didn't dawn on her until later that she didn't think of Coast City or the shitty trailer waiting for her there. She thought of her mother and of her step-dad grumbling over the crossword puzzle and Sara on the phone while Laurel tapped a pencil against the books in her lap. She thought of the guest room with her unpacked duffel bag and her floral bedspread and the strip of pictures she and Oliver had taken in the mall yesterday, with her sitting in his lap and his arms around her waist.

When he dropped her off in front of her mother's apartment, he kissed her one last time. She caught his face before he pulled away and said against his lips, "Just for the record… if I did want to run away, you'd be who I ran with."

He grinned at her and pressed a messy kiss against her cheek. "I'm gonna convince you to stick around here permanently, Smoak." He winked at her. "Just watch me."

Felicity smothered a grin, shaking her head.

But as he drove off down the road, she had to admit… It wasn't the worst idea.

* * *

"So what do I do?" Felicity wondered, sitting in Sara's desk chair, swinging it side to side.

Sara shrugged, thumbing through a magazine in her lap. "I dunno. You like him, don't you?"

She nodded. "A lot."

"So, keep dating him."

"I thought you said Laurel liked him first. And there's some girl rule or something." Frustrated, she frowned to herself. She still thought that was bogus. Just how was this girl code made up? Was there a vote? If it was so well known, why hadn't she ever heard of it?

"Yeah, but you didn't  _know_ she liked him, and she didn't  _say_ anything. And, whatever, I mean, he asked  _you_  out. He's met Laurel like four times and he never did anything, so… I say, go for it." With a grin, Sara flopped back on her bed, her head leaning over the edge, and winked at Felicity. "Tell me about your first kiss again."

Felicity rolled her eyes, her cheeks flushed. "I've already told you like six times..."

Mimicking her, Sara sat up, her hands pressed to her heart. "He tasted like strawberries and I got goose bumps, and oh, Sara, of course you can plan our wedding and live in our mansion."

With a snort, Felicity threw a pencil at her. "I didn't say…  _some_  of that."

Shrugging, Sara laid back on her side. "Look, Oliver's into you, you're into him, so let Laurel get over it. I mean, it's just a guy. There's like, billions of 'em walking around. She'll find another one, trust me."

Felicity nodded, but a frown pulled at her mouth.

It  _was_  just a guy, and Laurel was her sister. They weren't close, but that didn't change biology.

* * *

Felicity knocked hesitantly at the door, shifting her feet back and forth.

"Yeah? Come in…" Laurel's voice called out.

Felicity slowly pushed the door open and stepped inside, rubbing her sweaty hands down her jeans. "Uh, hey…" she said, half-smiling. "I was hoping we could talk."

Laurel glanced at her, blew out a sigh, and then turned back around. "I don't really have time. Unlike you, I'm not so far ahead in school that I can just take a month off."

Felicity wanted to correct her, to tell her that she'd actually had her homework mailed to her so she could keep up and had been working on it every day, but she didn't think that would help things. She walked further into the room and took a seat on the corner of Laurel's bed. "I'll make it quick. I just… I thought we could talk about… Well… See… I mean, what I want to say is…" She groaned. "Look, I didn't know that you liked Oliver! I didn't even know you  _knew_ Oliver."

Laurel didn't reply, but her pencil had stopped scratching at the paper in front of her.

"We don't… We never really talked about guys when I called. I guess, I don't know, I mean, I thought if you liked someone you'd say something. If… If I'd known you liked Oliver—"

"You what? You would've let me have him?" She whirled around in her chair, glaring at Felicity. She scoffed. "Because I need your charity?"

Felicity's eyes widened and she waved her hands quickly. "What? No! No, I didn't mean  _that_. I just… I mean, if I'd known I wouldn't've said yes when he asked me out. I'd never do anything to hurt you, not purposely…"

Laurel shook her head. "You stole the guy I liked, so I think that pretty much makes anything you say now completely pointless."

Felicity frowned. "I didn't  _steal_  him…"

"Sure, just like you're not stealing my dad or my sister or my mom…" She rolled her eyes. "Every summer it was always 'Felicity's finally coming home' and 'I can't wait to have my big sister here' and 'I've missed her so much.' But I was here all year long and I just get shoved aside because you feel like visiting. And now, because your dad just dropped you off here, now I have to hear it every day. 'Oh, poor Felicity, we have to make her feel welcome.' 'Poor, sweet Felicity who's never done anything wrong. She doesn't deserve this so we have to be extra nice.' It's totally unfair! My whole life is turned upside down because nice, perfect Felicity comes back, and now you've got my dad wrapped around your finger and my sister idolizing you and Oliver  _freaking_ Queen tripping over himself for any scrap of attention. I mean, how fair is that?" She stood from her desk abruptly and glared down at her. "You left me! You didn't want to be here! And what's so special about you anyway? I mean, you have no friends, you spend all your time with computers, your roots are growing out, and I  _obviously_ got mom's best genes. So what? What is it that makes you so damn special? Because I don't have a  _clue!_ "

Felicity swallowed tightly, clenching her teeth so her chin wouldn't wobble.

"Laurel," a low, angry voice interrupted.

Laurel jumped, taking a step back, her wide eyes turning toward the door. "Dad!"

He moved further into the room, shaking his head at her. "Apologize to your sister. Now!"

But as quickly as she'd retreated, Laurel came back, her brow furrowing. "She's not even my real sister!"

The words echoed in Felicity's ears, her heart clenched like tiny, barbed knives were stabbing it. Quickly, before her tears could spill, she stood from the bed and hurried out the door. She didn't stop when Quentin called after her, or when Sara asked her what was wrong. She ran right out of the apartment and she kept running.

Despite visiting Starling City every summer and having spent the last five weeks getting acquainted with the surrounding blocks of her mother's neighborhood, she had no idea where she was or where she was going. Walking down an unfamiliar sidewalk, she dug her phone out of her pocket and repeatedly called her dad's cell phone. Over and over, despite the 'this number is no longer in service' message that kept meeting her ears. She wiped at the tears that fell down her cheeks and tried her nana instead, but nobody answered. She tried her cousins and her dad's sister, even if she lived all the way over in Colorado. She tried anybody that her dad knew and though a few answered, nobody had any idea where her dad was.

Shoving her phone in her pocket in defeat, Felicity hugged her arms around herself and kept walking.

She wanted to go home.

Because this definitely wasn't it.

* * *

"I could come get you," Jennifer offered. "I mean, I couldn't tell my dad, I'm not actually allowed to take the car out of town, but I'll drive down and pick you up… You could stay with me. I'm sure mom wouldn't mind… You'd have to put up with my brothers, but what's new, right?"

"I don't want to get in the way. I know your house is pretty full. Your parents probably don't want to add another mouth to the table..." Felicity rocked forward on her feet, rubbing a hand up and down her arm as a breeze rushed by.

"They  _have_  been complaining about bills more than usual…" She sighed. "Well, what about Kelsey? Her mom's almost never home and the fridge is always full!"

Felicity nodded. "Yeah, yeah, that wouldn't be the worst." She paced in a circle in the mostly empty park. A few people had passed her, walking dogs or jogging, but it was dark out, so most people seemed to be avoiding the Staring City Park now that only the street lamps were lighting it. "When do you think you could come get me?" she wondered.

"Probably not until Saturday," Jenn admitted. "I'd come earlier but I have a test in algebra and Mickey's using the car until Wednesday. My dad's going golfing this weekend though, so it's the perfect time to take the car."

Saturday. It was Sunday now.

"Yeah. Yeah, Saturday's good," she said, even though her throat was burning, she was cold, and she wanted to go home  _now_.

"I mean, your trailer's still there right? You could stay at home, too. Maybe Tony'll show up. I drove by a few times, I didn't see anybody, but you never know…"

She shook her head. "No, if he left he's probably in trouble with a bookie, so they'll know to look there. It wouldn't be safe."

"So, go with Kelsey. She'll be happy to have you. You know how lonely she gets in that big house…"

"Yeah." Felicity nodded, sniffling quickly. "Yeah, it'll be good. Okay, so I'll see you Saturday?"

"Totally." There was a pause then before, "Hey, Smoaky, are you okay? I know things are rough and you always try to keep your head up, but if you wanna talk about it…"

"It's gonna be fine." She shook her head, casting her eyes around the eerily dark and quiet park. "I'll be fine. I just… I really miss you guys."

"Aww, we miss you too! Six days, right? It'll fly by!"

"Yeah," she choked out. "Yeah, just six days."

"Ugh, Mattie wants the phone. He's got a new girlfriend and he won't stop calling her…" Her voice went a little distant then as she yelled at her brother, "He's gonna get dumped for being too clingy!"

Matt's answering, "Shut up, Jenn!" made Felicity crack a smile.

"It's fine. I'll call you in a few days," Felicity told her.

"Okay, if you're sure…" she said, skeptically.

"I am. Really. Thanks, Jenn."

"Sure. Anything for you."

When she finally hung up, Felicity looked down at her phone to see the battery was dying.

Muttering a curse under her breath, she stuffed it in her pocket and started walking toward the park entrance. She wasn't sure where she was going, but she knew it'd be safer than where she was. She swore she could feel eyes on her back, trailing her as she left. It sent a shiver down her spine that left her feeling cold, but the farther she got, the better she felt.

She got exactly four blocks from the park before a cop car slowed down beside her. "Hey… Hey, you…"

She looked over at them, frowning, and then looked in either direction uncertainly before she walked closer to the car. "Yes?"

The police officer sitting in the passenger side squinted at her. "What's your name?"

She frowned. "Why?"

"Because you match the description of a girl we're looking for… You happen to know a Detective Lance?"

Felicity bit her lip and sighed, rolling her eyes. She should've known this would happen. "Yes. He's my step-father."

The officer in the driver's seat reached for the radio. "This is car-2247. Let Lance know we found his daughter."

Quentin's voice answered. "This is Officer Lance. Car-2247, what's your location?"

Felicity blew out a sigh and took a seat on the curb to wait for him.

Time seemed to both slow down and speed up. She wasn't sure what to expect when he arrived. Would he be angry? Maybe yell at her for taking off. Or maybe he'd tell her that Laurel didn't mean any of it and she shouldn't take it to heart. The funny thing was, Tony wouldn't have gone looking for her. She'd taken off after a few fights with him in the past, turning up a few days later only for him to act like he hadn't even noticed she'd left. But Quentin had always been different, and, for some reason, she wasn't surprised that he'd pulled the force together to look for her. It was weird, but she almost felt flattered.

When Quentin pulled up, Felicity had her face in her hands and she was exhausted. More emotionally than physically, but she had technically been walking around aimlessly for the last six hours, so…

The door to his car snapped shut before he hurried toward her, his shoes slapping loudly on the pavement.

"Jesus Christ, you know how long I've been looking for you?" he wondered, before he was pulling her up from the curb by her elbows and into a hug. He ran a hand down the back of her head and sighed. "Last sighting we had was in Starling Park. You know how dangerous that place is at night?"

She shook her head slightly, her arms hanging limply at her sides.

"You can't do this to me, Kid. I got enough rebellious daughters to last me a lifetime. You need to be the level-headed one, all right?"

She squeezed her eyes shut. "I'm sorry."

He pulled back, brushing her hair off her cheeks, and looked down at her, a frown pulling at his mouth. "Listen, what happened earlier, with Laurel…"

"I don't want to talk about it," she told him, turning her head to look distantly at some store front.

"Okay…" He sighed, patting her shoulder. "C'mon. Your mom's been worried sick."

She nodded, stepping back from him.

He walked her to the car with his arm around her shoulder. "You hungry? Huh? 'Cause I could go for a burger…"

She smiled faintly. "Yeah."

"Good. We'll stop and get something." He tucked her into the car before circling around to his side.

She wondered if he'd miss her when she was gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, that turned out angstier than I remember. I know I promised a butt-load of fluff (and there was a little), but in re-reading to edit this, I realized it's mostly in the next chapter, whereas this one delves more into things with Laurel. Which, by the way, before anybody starts freaking out about her and her behaviour, please pay attention to what she's said and remember that (a) she's sixteen, and (b) I told you guys that Laurel's issues with Felicity are a lot more than to do with a boy. Oliver's just the last straw. Things with her and Felicity have been tense for a while and they'll get explored. This is an overflow of everything and Laurel is lashing out and trying to hurt Felicity. If you have a sibling, then you probably know what that's like. So, cut her some slack and remember that you don't know everything yet. I really don't want a barrage of reviews putting her down. I've always prided myself on writing characters honestly and I'm not trying to hate on her, so please don't hate on her either.
> 
> Now, apologies for how long this took. My practicum is super demanding and school is picking up and I just haven't had much time to write. I have the next chapter written, it just needs editing, and, like I said, tons of Olicity cuteness to make up for the angst-fest of late. So I hope you're excited to read that!
> 
> Thank you for reading, and please leave a review! They're my lifeblood!
> 
> \- **Lee | Fina**


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **polyvore** : [Felicity's outfit](http://www.polyvore.com/cgi/set?id=120881433)

**[ ](http://dhfreak.tumblr.com/post/87671064528/what-does-home-look-like-ive-only-seen-shadows) **

**IV**.

As soon as Felicity walked through the apartment door, she had a face full of Sara's hair; her sister hugged her so tightly, Felicity was concerned for the welfare of her ribs. But just as quickly as Sara was on her, she let go. Pointing a finger in her face, Sara told her simply, "We're gonna talk about this," before she turned on her heel and walked away.

Sighing under her breath, Felicity watched her go, her nerves more than a little frayed. Truth be told, she could count on one hand how many times her and Sara had fought. It wasn't that they never disagreed, she was sure they did, but Sara was so easy going, so quick to laugh things off, that arguing was rare. And Felicity never liked fighting with her, not when they got so little time together as it was. Maybe it was a little bit because this part of her family was her escape; they were like the dream life she didn't have, but got a taste of each year.

Quentin's hand on her shoulder was what pushed her forward. When she looked back, he nodded his head. "Your mom's waitin' on you," he said. "I called Dee when we parked."

Swallowing tightly, Felicity walked down the hall to the living room, pulling on her fingers awkwardly. She spotted her mother immediately, pacing the length of the room, one arm wrapped around her waist while her other hand was raised, her fingers furled into a fist that rested against her chin.

Felicity struggled for a moment. Should she interrupt her or just wait for Dinah to notice her? This had never happened with Tony. She left home and returned whenever she wanted and her father never mentioned it. There were times she liked and hated that freedom in equal measure. Likewise, whenever she visited her mother, she had no reason to be out late. The only two people she knew around her age were Laurel and Sara. She rarely got into trouble when she visited Dinah and so this experience felt completely new and, because of that, made her anxious.

Her mouth opened, but no words came, and so she just stared and watched. But she wasn't a coward, she told herself. Whatever Dinah wanted to say, if she wanted to yell or just quietly dismiss her or maybe she'd tell her it was all too much, all of this stuff with Tony, and Felicity would accept that. She would. She already had her plans in order, right? So it wouldn't hurt if her mother told her it was just too hard to deal with. That she didn't have time for Felicity to be playing the rebellious teenager. Or maybe she'd make excuses, tell her Laurel didn't mean it, that she shouldn't take it seriously, that leaving like that wasn't any way to behave.

"Mom?" she finally managed to push out, between lips that wanted to steal it right back.

Dinah stopped mid-step, spinning to look at her, her brows hiked high. She crossed the room in a flash, gathering Felicity up in a hug, her arms squeezing around her tightly.

Felicity both leaned in and away, not sure how to react, if it was just the calm before the storm. She tried to remember how Jennifer's parents treated her when she was in trouble, but all she could think of was their family meetings that usually dissolved into yelling and blaming and complaining about each other until eventually resolving one of many issues and deciding that was enough work for one day before they went out for dinner or broke out the ice cream to celebrate their questionable conflict resolution skills.

"What were you thinking?" Dinah asked, her voice a hoarse whisper. "Running off like that, in a city you barely know. Do you have  _any_  idea what could've happened to you?" Her hands stroked over Felicity's shoulders, her hands trembling slightly. "You didn't call, you didn't answer when we called you. I was so—I thought—Do you know how worried I was? I…" She shook her head, pulling back to look down at Felicity, her brow furrowed, her lips set in a line.

Felicity took a moment to notice how red Dinah's eyes were and felt… awkward. Had she cried? Her mother was always so strong. Growing up, Felicity had looked up to her for that. Being the girl that cried whenever she skinned her knees or got a papercut, she never felt strong. She felt small and weak and all boney legs and too long arms. She wasn't curvy like her mother, didn't hold her head up high like Dinah did, didn't face down the criticism of others with an amused, dismissive laugh. Her mother was the kind of woman Felicity looked at and wished she could be more of. Strong and beautiful and smart, taking the world by the throat and vowing to stand on top of it, all while wearing a tailored power suit.

"I know you were upset. I understand that," Dinah continued. "You had every right to be, I won't argue that. But Felicity, you don't run away from your problems. You don't run off into a city that could eat you whole and spit you out someplace we'd never find you. Do you hear me?" She gripped Felicity's arms tightly, staring down at her worriedly. "I won't… I  _won't_ lose you. You're smart, you're  _brilliant_ , so why on  _earth_ did you think running off like that was a good idea?"

"I just… needed space. That's all. I needed to be on my own." Felicity shrugged, her gaze falling, staring at a button on her mother's shirt. Was it lopsided? It looked lopsided.

"Space is one thing. You have a room for that. But leaving like that, for  _hours_ , that's not… It's not  _okay_ ," Dinah stressed.

Felicity nodded. "Okay," she whispered.

"Felicity…"

"Yeah?"

Dinah sighed. "Will you look at me?  _Please_?"

She raised her eyes slowly, to the hollow of Dinah's neck, and then higher, to her chin, higher still to her pursed lips and then the dusting of blush on her cheeks and finally to her eyes. Green. Like Laurel's.

"Good. There you are." She reached up, cupping Felicity's cheek a moment, before stroking back a few stray hairs behind her ear, over and over, like she did when she hadn't seen Felicity in months, when she missed her. "This thing with Laurel… What she said…" Dinah paused a moment and shook her head minutely. "She didn't mean it. She… You have to know she didn't. She loves you. I know she does. But she's having trouble right now. She's used to being the oldest and now she's like the middle child. It's just different for her. Maybe she thinks we've been ignoring her. If that's what it is, it's something we'll have to work on. What she said to you was unfair, you didn't deserve that. Laurel's been stressed out with school and all of these extra-curriculars she's been taking on, but that's no excuse, okay?" Dinah shook her head. "You're loved, you're  _wanted_ , and I know it doesn't feel that way right now. I know you're upset and you're confused, but you need to talk to me, okay?" She tapped Felicity's chin to get her to raise it. "You can always talk to me."

Felicity nodded. "Okay."

A heavy sigh left Dinah, her shoulders slumping, but instead of pushing it further, she gathered Felicity in tight and hugged her, stroking her hand down Felicity's hair and just holding her. She hummed quietly, rubbing a hand back and forth over Felicity's shoulders, like she used to when she was a little girl and she was upset. Felicity closed her eyes as tears bit at them, and turned her face down and pressed it hard into her mother's shoulder. But she didn't speak, she didn't clarify, she didn't tell her mom all of the awful things she'd been thinking, about how she didn't fit and maybe Laurel didn't love her, and that was okay, right? It was okay. Sometimes people just didn't love their family. They didn't love their sisters or their daughters or their fathers. That was okay.

It was okay.

* * *

Sara just stared for a long moment, trying to get her thoughts in order. She leaned in the doorway and glared at the back of her sister's head. But, eventually, she got tired of not saying what needed to be said.

"So? Are we going to talk about Hurricane Laurel and her bitch storm, or are we going to ignore the obvious?"

Tossing her pencil down, Laurel turned in her chair, raising an eyebrow at Sara. "Please, Sar, tell me what you really think…" she muttered sarcastically.

"If that's an invitation, I'm totally up for it." Sara stepped into the room, closing the door behind her and crossing her arms over her chest. "What's going on with you? Usually you're happy when Lissy's here, but you've been weird ever since she showed up."

"Surprised you even noticed," Laurel said, rolling her eyes as she leaned back in her chair.

"Is that supposed to mean something to me? Because of course I noticed. Look, we might not always get along, and I know we're really different, but I  _know_ you. You're my sister, which is the only reason why I'm not yelling at you right now. Because what you said to Felicity, that was harsh. Like,  _really_  harsh, Laur. And I don't know where it came from or why, but it's not like you. I know you love her. Every time she went home, you'd be a total drag for like a week. So what is it? Is this just about Oliver or is it something bigger than that?"

Laurel didn't answer right away, instead staring at a poster on her wall for a long moment, but she tugged on her fingers, picking at her nails like she always did when she was nervous and working up to something. Sara was no stranger to the aggressive, say what she means, side of her sister, but the uncertain side of Laurel was rare. She didn't like showing weakness and so she rarely did. But there were times when she let her walls down, times when she was genuine, letting that little bit of insecurity she carried show.

Sara crossed the room to take a seat on the edge of Laurel's bed, all lace and flowers and dripping with femininity. There was no clutter to be seen. Laurel was like that. She was organized and prepared, more like Dinah while Sara was like Quentin. If they had to be colors, Dinah and Laurel would be white; clear, pristine, certain and capable. Quentin and Sara would be brown; a coffee stain on the table of life, no coaster needed or remembered, simply leaving a mark wherever they went and unapologetic for it. Felicity would be blue; both soft and strong, a little sad, a little hopeful, gentle, eager to please, and full of comfort.

"What does she have that I don't?" Laurel finally wondered, her voice quiet, her lips strained. "I… I tried so hard to get him to notice me. I did everything I could for him to see me. And I thought… I  _thought_ we'd make sense, you know? Me and him. I—I can see myself in that world. I'm smart. Maybe not genius level smart, but I've got a 3.8 GPA. I work my butt off, I do. My whole life I've been working up to this. To fitting into that world. The etiquette classes and the extra-curriculars and setting myself up for law school. One day I'm going to be the DA, I can feel it in my bones, Sara. So  _why_. Why does he want her and not me?" She threw her hands up, biting her lip.

Sara sighed, staring at her sister a long moment. "I love you, Laur, I really do. But do you hear yourself?"

Laurel's eyes narrowed in confusion.

"What part of any of that had to do with Oliver?" Sara wondered. "You talked about 'that life.' Not about  _him_. Not about who he is or why you like him or why you think you guys would be good for each other. He's just… a stepping stone in your perfect life, you know? And that's not fair. Not to you or to him." Sara rolled her eyes, hopping off the bed. "Listen, this thing with him and Felicity, I don't know if it's going to work out. I don't know if  _any_  relationship's ever really gonna work out. But I do know that when she hangs out with him, she's hanging out with Oliver. Not the Queen heir, not the 'future husband of the DA.' He's just…  _Oliver_ to her. And maybe that's why. Maybe that's what he likes about her. I don't know. But I do know that being pissed at your sister because of some dude, that's just…  _stupid_. I mean, he's just a guy. Just one guy in the whole world. But your sister… She's your family. She's gonna be there with you until the end." Sara shrugged. "So you can be pissed that your dream world popped, you can be upset that your crush isn't into you, but don't put it on Felicity's shoulders… because it's not her fault."

With that, Sara turned on her heel and walked to the door, pausing only when she reached for the handle. "And… just for the record…" She turned back. "You're a great person, Laurel. With or without the etiquette lessons or the GPA or whatever kickass job you wanna do in the future. You're awesome. And one day you're gonna find the right guy, and he's gonna know that too."

Leaving it at that, Sara walked out of the room, closing the door behind her.

Making her way to her own room, she rolled her eyes to herself. Boy drama.  _Ugh_. No thanks.

* * *

Felicity woke the next morning to Sara jumping on her. Literally leaping on her while she was bundled up under her blankets. With a laugh, Sara rolled off of her to lay next to her on the bed. Still sleepy, Felicity opened bleary eyes to squint at her sister. The early morning sun was cutting in through the window, giving Sara a soft, fuzzy glow, completely unworthy of someone who cannonballed her sister at 7 am.

Sara, far too knowing for a girl her age, half-smiled at her, reaching out to brush the hair out of her eyes.

"You wanna talk about it?" she asked quietly.

Felicity's eyes fell to the bed for a moment and then she shook her head. Because she didn't. She didn't want to talk about the words Laurel threw at her that still stung or how she ran away like a coward or how she was still planning on running away, home, to her friends.

"Okay," Sara said and then wiggled her way over to press her forehead to Felicity's. "But when you do, I'm here. And I won't make fun of you. Not even when you cry so bad that you're all gross and boogery."

"Boogery?" Felicity laughed.

"Totally. Just boogers everywhere." Sara's eyes flashed wide with humor, a giggle leaving her that made Felicity smile despite how sad she still felt.

"It's gonna be okay," Sara told her. "Sure, it sucks now, but that's how it is with sisters, right? One of us says something dumb, one of us cries, one of us beats up the other one with a couch cushion…"

Felicity scoffed. "That only happened once. You need to let it go."

"Are you kidding?" Sara scoffed. "You could've scrambled my brain, you were hitting me with that cushion so hard."

Felicity shrugged. "You were being a serious butthead to Laurel. It was my job to avenge her."

"Oh, please." She rolled her eyes. "She cried at the drop of a hat when we were little. One time I threw a teddy bear at her and she told mom I was beating her."

Felicity's mouth twitched. "In her defense, you did regularly cannonball on top of her whenever she was on the couch."

Sara huffed defensively. "Yes, but I never  _broke_ anything, so she should thank me for taking it easy on her."

Felicity laughed, her head falling back. "You're crazy," she told her.

"Totally. And you're never gonna hear me apologize for it either." Sara propped her head up on her hand and grinned down at her. "Now, come on, you're gonna make me breakfast, with extra bacon." Steamrolling over her, Sara landed on the floor in a crouch and hopped up to walk toward the bedroom door.

Felicity raised an eyebrow, turning over to see her. "Shouldn't you be making me breakfast to cheer me up?"

"Pfft. No way. I always burn pancakes, you know that. If anything, I'm doing you a favor letting you cook." With a wink, Sara walked out the door, just as awesome as she ever was.

With a laugh, Felicity let her head fall back, a faint smile on her lips.

Closing her eyes for a moment, she rubbed at her forehead.  _Saturday_. Five days to get in as much time as she could. Because it wasn't Sara's fault. It wasn't even Laurel's fault, not really. She just… didn't fit there. That wasn't anybody's fault, right? Maybe some people just didn't have that place, that one place where they fit. But standing between Jennifer and Kelsey, arms hooked with theirs, that was as close to belonging as she'd ever felt, and she'd rather be there, with them, than somewhere she wasn't really wanted.

Tossing her blanket off, she rolled out of bed, pasted on a smile, and went out to meet her sister.

* * *

Felicity didn't get to see Oliver until that afternoon, after he'd finished school and she called him, asking him to meet her at the coffee shop. With only five days until it was all over, she figured she might as well enjoy them. And if there was one person who guaranteed a good time without any family drama (at least if she totally ignored the part where Laurel hated her for "stealing" him from her), it was Oliver. Besides, maybe when it was all over, she'd put in a good word for Laurel. Couldn't hurt, right? She could do that… Chances were she'd be seeing a lot less of her family in future, so maybe she wouldn't have to see the 'happy couple' together.

His car pulled up in front of the coffee shop, engine revving in a way she might've rolled her eyes at if it wasn't for the grinning guy looking at her through the window. "Hey," he called, "They were all out of horse-drawn carriages, but I'm here to pick up a princess anyway."

Felicity bit her lip to hide her smile as she walked over, pulling the car door open and climbing inside. "You're cheesy, you know that?"

"It's becoming clearer the more time we spend together that I'm made of cheese."

Shaking her head, she leaned over to press a kiss to his cheek. "Well intentioned cheese, though."

"Glad I have some redeeming qualities then," he said, eyes dropping to her mouth. He sobered a moment later, though. "You sounded upset on the phone. What's up?"

She shifted in her seat. "Can we go for a drive?"

He nodded, his brow furrowing as he glanced over his shoulder before pulling back out onto the road.

Nothing was said for the first five minutes. She let herself relax into the passenger seat, fingers pressed to her lips as she stared out the window, watching buildings and people pass by. She watched lights turn from green to yellow to red, walk signs change to stop hands, flashing signals for cars to slow down and let pedestrians cross roads. She watched the world move all around her, a city full of happy, sad, busy, confused, bored, distracted, hopeful, excited people walking and driving through their lives, from one destination to the next.

"I had a fight with Laurel yesterday," she started. "It was… awkward and confusing and she said some things. Some not totally wrong things, actually. But they hurt, a lot more than I thought they would, and I… left. I just kind of walked around the city for,  _well_ , hours. Only partly because I didn't really know where I was or where I was going, so I might've gotten a little lost and spent some time walking through the park, at night, and that was creepy and totally not safe. And then the cops were there and my step-dad was bringing me home, and my mom was upset because I didn't call and I didn't stick around to figure things out. And yeah, that probably makes more sense, but… I've never had to do that. I… I've never had a family that  _wants_ to figure things out. Because at home, when my dad is upset, he leaves or I leave, and we never really talk about it again.

"And when I'm here, we never fight and I try really hard to be good and perfect and quiet because I want to come back. I want them to invite me back next time. And I don't want to be that kid that they don't want or that they forget about at Christmas, or that sister they just send a family Christmas card to. I… I don't want them to forget me. So I try really hard to be whatever they want me to be, and sometimes I guess that's hard on Laurel. So she… said some things. About how I get all of the attention and they all pity me and they have to make room for me and I just… I already felt like the third wheel, or, well, I guess the fifth wheel. Which actually makes a lot of sense, because there's four wheels on a car, and I'm the spare, right?

"So that was…  _hard_." She swallowed tightly when her voice came out in a raspy croak. "And then Quentin was there and he told her to apologize and she… said I wasn't her sister and that… that really hurt. A lot."

Reaching up, she swiped at a tear tripping down her cheek. "So I left, because even if he got her to apologize, it wouldn't change anything. And she's not wrong. She's not. Because I'm not her sister, I'm not her family, I'm someone who visits and interrupts and I get in the way. And I know that. I've always known that. So I left, because I should've left a long time ago. Because I don't belong here. I don't. And it's so  _stupid_ that I wish I did. It's stupid and pointless and I don't know why I even do it. I don't."

He didn't respond at first, and the words just kind of rested in the air, thick and awful and full of pain.

And then she felt his hand, his fingers sliding between hers, and that reassuring squeeze that she felt in her bones and her heart.

The car pulled over to the side and she frowned, looking at the dirt it kicked up, briefly wondering where they were, and when all of the buildings and people had faded out of view. He pulled over and unbuckled his seatbelt and her belt and then he was pulling her hand, tugging her closer. And she turned to look at him, her eyes big and round and full of tears. He stared down at her knowingly, his mouth set in a frown, and he pulled her in until they were hugging, her face tucked into his neck. She thought about her sisters, about how Laurel or Sara would react. Maybe they'd be stronger. Maybe they'd brush it off. Maybe they'd tell him they didn't need comfort. But she buried her face down into the crook of his neck and gripped the shoulder of his shirt and cried, trembling and shaking and gasping big gulps of air.

He held her tight, his hand rubbing up and down her back, fingers stroking through her hair. He didn't ply her with empty words, he just held her. She leaned into that unspoken comfort, letting him soothe away the hurt and the uncertainty and the faulty confidence that was never quite as strong as she wanted it to be. She sniffled, resting against him, turning her head to rest it on his shoulder as his hands continued to rub, with her sitting half in his lap. She could almost fall asleep, her breath evening out, her tears slowly stopping to nothing, leaving only trails of misery on her cheeks.

After a few minutes, she leaned back and looked up at him. "Thanks… And sorry for, well, crying all over you." She smoothed her hands over his t-shirt, large, damp spots more than a little noticeable.

Oliver shook his head, reaching up to rub away the tears from her cheeks. "If anybody can rock tear stains, it's me."

She laughed, rolling her eyes at him. "Cheesy and arrogant, what a combination."

"I might have to trademark it."

She ducked her head, hiding a smile.

"It's okay, you know…" he said, gently.

She glanced up, an eyebrow raised.

"It's okay to feel like you don't belong. It's even okay to be mad at your sister for saying what she did. It's okay to be yourself, even if people don't really like who that is. And it's okay to want attention and love from the people who should be giving it to you anyway. It's okay to want a family and to want your family to pay attention to you. All of that's okay. I might not know what it's like, having two different families. I lucked out. My parents might pressure me to be different or more serious or to follow in their footsteps, but I know that when I go home, they'll be there. If I need help, they'll help me. I know Thea loves me, worships me even, and that'll probably never change. So I don't know exactly what you're going through, but I know you. I can probably know you better and I'm gonna try really hard to know every part of you, all the stuff that makes you smile and cry and laugh. But what I do know now is that you're a good person, Felicity. You've got a good heart. And you don't deserve to be hurt like this. You don't deserve to feel like this. And nobody should be making you cry." He rubbed his knuckles down her cheek and tucked his hand under her chin, lifting it a little higher. "So don't let them, all right?"

She stared at him a long moment, that earnest, hopeful look on his face making her heart squeeze a little tighter.

And then she leaned in, pressing her lips to his, and wrapped her arms around his neck. It wasn't a passionate kiss; if anything it was desperate and a little sloppy, but it was full of thanks and appreciation and more than a little need. He responded in kind, his hands sweeping up and down her back, squeezing her shoulders and rubbing her neck. And then she pulled back, a little breathless, and dropped her head to his shoulder again, closing her eyes and breathing him in, letting the comfort of his arms and his scent and his words lull her a little more.

And he held her, fingers stroking down her hair, skimming down the shell of her ear, rubbing the lobe before they traced down her neck and then repeated it all over again.

He held her for a good, long while, letting the peace settle in, and then he said, "If you ever wanna get away, from your family or anything, you can call me, okay? Instead of running around the city, no idea where you are. I might not know what the right thing to say is, but we can do this… I can hold you… for as long as you want."

She smiled then, nuzzling her face against his neck. "Okay."

"Yeah?" he asked, sounding a little unsure, like he didn't think he was offering enough.

"Hold me a little tighter?" she asked.

And his arms flexed around her, gathering her closer. "What happens if I don't let go?" he wondered softly.

"Let's not find out," she murmured back.

He pressed a kiss to her hair in answer and she sighed, letting every bone, every muscle, relax completely. This felt good. It felt right. It felt easy and comfortable and like nothing she'd ever known before. Because her friends had comforted her a thousand-and-one times over the years. They hugged her between them and offered ice cream and advice and their own problems in comparison. They would braid her hair and make her laugh and put on one of her favorite movies until she was happy again. They had their ways of cheering her up, and she'd never thought anything could feel quite as good, as sincere, as that. But this, right here, it felt genuine and intimate in a wholly different way. And she liked it just as much.

Felicity stared out the window as shadows moved over the passenger side door, as cars passed by outside them, as the sun slowly began to set.

"Can you promise me something?" he wondered, his voice quiet, like he didn't want to interrupt the moment.

"Hmm?" she hummed.

"If you do leave, back to Coast City… don't go without telling me, okay?"

Her throat burned then, Saturday weighing heavily on her shoulders, and then she nodded. "I'll say goodbye," she answered.

He didn't reply, but he did hold her just a little bit tighter, his chin resting atop her head, and that said enough.

* * *

Later, when Oliver dropped her off back at the apartment, they stood beside his car, his back against the passenger door with her standing between his feet. He pulled her in by her hips, until she was resting against his front, her ear pressed to his chest. And it felt good, it felt really good to have someone to lean on, who invited her to do exactly that.

"You know what we're gonna do tomorrow?"

"Not have long, emotionally draining conversations, I hope," she answered, tipping her head up.

He grinned down at her and pinched her chin between his thumb and forefinger. "Only if you need to. But if you don't, then we're going to the aquarium."

"Really?" she asked, eyebrow quirked.

"Mmhmm. You ever been?"

She shrugged. "Maybe when I was a kid. Not in a while, though."

"Good," he decided. "Then you probably don't remember a lot."

" _Excuse_  you." Felicity poked his chest, "I have an amazing memory."

"Apologies to your super-brain, Smoak," he teased.

"Apology accepted." She smiled up at him. "But seriously, I think that could be fun. You, me, and a giant fish tank. What's not to love?"

He chuckled, deep into his chest; the rumbling noise made her bite her lip. "We'll stop at a pet store, pick up some fish food before we go."

"All right, but I get attached really easily, you could be setting yourself up to buy me a squid or something."

"A squid?" he laughed.

"What? Too many tentacles. Hm, maybe a turtle then. Ooh, I could call him Alfred!"

"Alfred the turtle. Sounds distinguished."

She nodded. "Very gentlemanly. I might just add Esquire to his name. Befitting of a turtle of his status, right?"

He grinned, before leaning in and pressing a kiss to her forehead. "It'll just be me, you, and Alfred the Turtle Esquire… Sounds like my kind of day."

"I'm looking forward to it." She rubbed a hand up and down his side. "Do you want to meet there after school? I might have to ask for directions, but it could be a good lesson in city a little better."

"Um, no, I thought we'd go in the morning."

Felicity quirked her head to one side, unable to hide a smile when he mimicked her. "Don't you have classes?"

"Don't you think I deserve a day off? It's an auspicious occasion. I'm getting a pet turtle."

Felicity snorted. "No,  _I_ am. You're just there for the ride."

"I think I'm going to have to make an argument for at  _least_ joint custody..."

She laughed, patting his chest and stepping back. "You do that. Maybe mock one up during break between  _classes_  tomorrow."

Oliver rolled his eyes, taking her hips in hand and tugging her back towards him. "Come on, it's one day." He held a hand up and vowed, "Honest. I won't skip the rest of the week…"

She arched an eyebrow.

"Two weeks?" he offered.

Her lips pursed.

"All right, you drive a hard bargain, Smoak. I won't skip any classes for the next month. I swear it on Alfred the Turtle."

"Esquire," she added.

"Esquire," he agreed.

Biting her lip a moment, she considered it and then nodded. "All right, but I expect you to hold up your end of the bargain. Or Alfred's all mine. No more joint custody."

"Deal," he said, holding his hand out for her to shake.

Felicity snorted, but took it anyway. "You're a dork."

"A very loveable and cuddly dork," he said, pulling her in again and catching her lips in a kiss.

She hummed, reaching up on her tiptoes to meet his slanting lips. She'd be lying if she said it wasn't easy to get lost in the way he kissed her. Oliver never did things by halves; he wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her in close, and focused on her mouth so completely that she felt it right down to the roots of her hair. He kissed her like she was air and his lungs were empty, like her lips were wings and he was falling. Sliding her hand around his neck, she scraped her nails down his nape, and dragged her tongue over his bottom lip, her teeth following to nip at the edge of his mouth. She felt him shudder, a full body shiver followed by his fingers gripping her hair a little tighter. He had a thing about her hair. Sometimes he pulled it down out of its ponytail so he could sift his fingers through it, other times he just tied it around his fingers.

It wasn't until a throat cleared that they pulled back from each other, her head swiveling to find Quentin staring at them, brows raised and frown etched across his mouth. His eyes narrowed abruptly then as he said, "Gettin' late, son, might be time for you to head on home."

Oliver, being Oliver, grinned. "Always nice to see you, Detective Lance. We should get coffee sometime and bond more."

"I'll put it on my to-list, somewhere between 'shoot myself in the foot' and 'not in your lifetime.'"

"Well, keep me updated on when the foot's healed. I know a place that sells speciality teas. You strike me as a tea guy. Very zen."

Felicity shook her head, turning her eyes up and asking for patience. "All right, I think that's enough machismo for one night. Oliver, I'll see you tomorrow, okay?" She patted his chest.

He turned his attention down to her, his mockingly cheerful smile becoming very real in a quick heartbeat. "Yeah, tomorrow." He leaned in to press one last kiss to the tip of her nose. "Remember what I said, all right?" he murmured, quiet enough for only her to hear.

"I will," she whispered back, smiling up at him.

With one last squeeze to her hip, he stepped back, circling his car to the driver's side. He revved the engine before he left, which she was pretty sure was just to irritate Quentin.

"Your taste in guys is gonna give me an early heart attack, I can feel it," her step-dad sighed from beside her.

Felicity's smile dimmed a little. "He's not always like that. I think he only does it because he knows it gets under your skin and he doesn't like that you don't approve of him." She shrugged. "He's not good with rejection so he pretends it doesn't bother him."

"Yeah? Sounds like you've thought about this…" He turned to look at her searchingly. "You really like him, don't you?"

"Oliver is…" She trailed off for a moment, thinking of the way he held her, how he planned to cheer her up with marine animals, how he admitted that he didn't know exactly what to do but he wanted to try anyway. "He's different, and he's special, and… yeah, I really like him.  _So_ …" She looked up at him hopefully. "Try to take it easy on him, okay?"

With another long, deep sigh, Quentin nodded faintly. "All right,  _but_ … only because I trust your judgement."

She half-smiled then. "Even after I run off into a city I barely know and lead you on a really long, confusing, and probably kind of scary search for me?"

"Even then." He reached for her, his hand settling on her shoulder. "Speaking of, though. I wanna talk, just me and you, and I feel like we didn't really get to do that last night."

"Yeah, well, it kind of feels like the conversation that never ends… Look, mom and I talked it out. It was irresponsible for me to run off like that, I should've answered my phone when you called, Laurel didn't mean it, she's stressed, the dynamics are different, oldest child to middle child, it's complicated, don't take it personally, and yeah, talk more. I think that about covers it."

Quentin stared at her a long moment, shaking his head faintly. "Sounds like it. Doesn't mean we can't talk it out a bit more, huh?" He walked a few feet away then, taking a seat on the cement stairs leading up to the apartment building. He rested his arms on his knees, his fingers threaded together. Felicity stared at him a long moment while he cast his eyes out to the street ahead. "You know, when you were a little girl and you'd get upset, you had two ways you'd deal with it. You'd either crawl under your bed and hide there, usually to cry and sometimes just to read a book and calm down, or… you'd find me."

Felicity's head cocked curiously. "I did?"

"Yeah." He smiled faintly. "Yeah, you'd, uh, you'd come lookin' for me, but you'd never call my name. You'd just search around the apartment until you found me, usually on the couch, watchin' TV, or in the kitchen, cookin'. And you'd never say anything. You'd just crawl in beside me and you'd wrap your arms around me and you'd hold on, tight as your little arms could, and you wouldn't let go until you were okay. Sometimes you cried, Laurel took your toy or Sara ripped one of your books or something, but mostly you'd just hug me. And I used to think, or maybe I'd just tell myself, that you were holding onto me 'cause you wanted to remind yourself that, no matter what, you still had me and I'd make all the bad things go away." His mouth ticked up on one corner. "I don't know. Probably a sappy thing dad's tell themselves, y'know? We convince ourselves that we're gonna save our kids from all the bad stuff that tries to hurt 'em. And it's hard, 'cause some of that stuff happens at home. One of your books gets a beating, I can buy you a new one or tape the pages back in, but that other stuff, you get your heartbroken, somebody makes you feel bad, it gets harder when you get older. I can't go around beatin' up anybody that hurts your feelings. Hear that's frowned on or something…"

Felicity smiled lightly, wrapping her arms around herself as she moved to sit down beside him, hunched forward a little with her head turned to see him.

"The things that Laurel said, I… I know they hurt you. And I'm not gonna apologize for her. When she's ready, she'll make her own apologies and you two will figure it out, just like you always do. But I will tell you something, and even if it's corny or lame or whatever you kids wanna call it, I want you to know it's true…"

She nodded slowly.

He turned to look at her, his expression serious, even fierce. "Anything ever happens in this world, anybody ever makes you feel lower than low, it doesn't matter where you're at or who it is or what's going on… You can always come to me. You can cry on me, hug me, you don't have to talk if you don't want to, it's all up to you, sweetheart. Just as long as you know… There is  _always_  gonna be a place for you right here beside me. And nothing's ever gonna change that. Doesn't matter how old you get or who your boyfriend is or where you live… I'll always be here for you, kid."

Felicity stared up at him, the sincerity of his words written all over his face, and she leaned over, dropping her head to his shoulder. She didn't tell him how much it hurt, what Laurel said. She didn't tell him she was leaving on Saturday. She didn't tell him that she still felt like she didn't quite fit into the family upstairs. But she leaned on him, she listened to him, and she believed him.

Slinging an arm around her shoulders, Quentin hugged her close, and they stayed like that, quiet but comfortable. Until he asked her if she wanted to help him make dinner, spaghetti, and she smiled up at him and nodded. They climbed the stairs together, with him complaining about some work thing or another, and her laughing under her breath at the inventive ways he described his co-workers.

It didn't make everything better, it didn't erase what happened the night before, but it did feel good. Because he might not be her dad, not biologically, and she might always be jealous of Sara and Laurel for that fact, but that didn't mean he wasn't hers; her family and her friend and her cheer up squad. And she could live with that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so I added a lot more to this chapter than I expected and the fluff is interspersed with a lot more angst than originally. There's more fluff to come in the next chapter, which begins with the aquarium date of cuteness. But I did want to delve into how each person close to her helps her get through these moments. Dinah wants to support her and understand her motivations for running away, but she was also terrified that something might happen to her and she's still learning how to discipline Felicity when, for the most part, she hasn't had to. Then we see protective but still sisterly and cheerful Sara, who lets Laurel know she made a mistake without completely tearing her apart for it and supports Felicity in her own way. Oliver's still figuring out how to be there for someone else, so you actually see him mirroring her way of helping him through things in the last chapter. He wants to be there for her and he's not sure what he's doing, but he's trying. And that's huge for him. And then we've got Quentin, who is probably the funnest for me to write. The way he is as a dad is just awesome. because for him, it's not a matter of biology, Felicity is his and he's trying really hard to show her that.
> 
> Also, apologies for how long it took to update this. As I'm sure the majority of you are aware, I've been on hiatus for about a month now, maybe a little longer. I needed a break and it felt good. I'm slowly making my way back into writing regularly again, so please be patient with me.
> 
> Thank you so much for reading! Please leave a review; they're my lifeblood.
> 
> \- **Lee | Fina**


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